Small Fry
by TheSarcasticKnight
Summary: Babysitting. Debts. Cancer. Living toys? Aimee's life went from pathetically simple to overly complicated in the span of a week. Now she has to watch her nephews and niece for two months while their mother is away while also trying to help a group of alien robots get back home. It doesn't seem too hard, but if Wheeljack touches the microwave one more time...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Reunion

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><p><em>"<em>_I love family reunions. Maybe next year we can pass out samurai swords."_

_-Doug Solter_

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><p>The house was massive. Granted, my judgment was a bit skewed considering I lived in a closet sized apartment with the view of a dirty alley in New York City. So in comparison, this two story light blue paneled house with a sprawling back lawn and decorated front looked like a mansion.<p>

I quickly glanced down at myself self-consciously. A worn out light brown leather jacket over an equally worn out red plaid shirt, dark skinny jeans with holes in the knees that weren't there when I originally bought them, and a pair of scuffed up brown boots to complete the hobo trash look I was rocking. My attire alone made me stand out like a sore thumb in this upscale, suburban neighborhood and that didn't even include my various bruises and busted knuckles.

It wasn't as cold down here in the south as it was up north right now, but it was still chilly enough that when I heaved a defeated sigh my breath showed in a fog of warm air. The heavy book bag on my back filled with a week of clothes and essentials weighed me down as much as my rotten spirits did.

What was I even doing here? I hadn't seen or spoken to my older sister in years. Why start now all of a sudden? The urge to pretend like I had never even attempted to visit became more and more appealing with each passing second. I could always act like the mysterious letter and plane ticket from Aubrey had gotten lost in the mail. I'm still not even sure how it had found its way to my apartment in the first place. How the hell had she gotten my address?

The sharp sound of a car horn cut through the air not only making me lose my train of thought, but also making me jump. I whipped around with a confused glare. The taxi driver was glaring holes into my figure as he impatiently held his hand out and over the passenger seat beside him.

"You gonna pay or what?"

"Oh, right." I mumbled and stuffed my hand into my jacket pocket pulling out a bunch of ones and fives to pay. He eagerly took the money and paid no mind to the crumbled and blood splattered condition they were in. The window snapped back up and the car took off down the road. There went my last chance of escape. No going back now.

I took in a deep breath and turned back around to face the monster of a house. Determination began to fill my body and settle in my gut. My hands clenched into fists by my side. I've faced bigger moments than this and survived. I've been in tougher, more dangerous, situations and come out mostly unscathed. This was just another obstacle in my hellish life. I refused to be scared of seeing my sister for crying out loud. At least, I refused to let anyone see it.

Before my mind could go back to pathetically trying to find a way out of this, I pushed forward down the small brick path toward the front porch. Three white steps up onto the wooden porch, four steps to the matching white door, and suddenly my thumb was pressing down on the doorbell. A minute or so passed by where I just awkwardly stood at the door not moving when I heard the sound of running footsteps. They sounded small and light, but my questioning was cut short when the door was yanked open.

My eyes had been focused straight ahead at eye level, but when I didn't see anybody they gradually drifted downwards to land on the small girl who had opened the door. She couldn't have been older than 6 or 7 based on her height. She was a petite thing with dirty blonde hair that fell past her shoulders in loose, natural curls. The little girl wore a light pink dress with small darker pink hearts and a wide grin on her face. Her dark blue eyes looked way too familiar and it was unsettling.

"Hi." She chirped innocently.

It was silent as the girl waited for me to reply to her greeting. After a few more seconds of not finding a response I finally managed to blurt something out, "Um, hi. Is this…I'm looking for Aubrey Williams, do you know-?"

"Mom!" The girl turned her head to yell into the house, "There's a stranger at the door looking for you!"

"_Mom_?" I choked out in surprise. I knew Aubrey had one kid, a boy who was probably around ten years old now, but where the hell had this girl come from?

She ignored my statement and smiled, "What's your name?"

"I'm- I'm Aj, who are-?"

"Her name is Aj!" She yelled again then snapped her gaze back to me, "She'll be here soon."

The girl sprinted back into the house off to the right leaving the door wide open. Didn't anybody ever teach her about stranger danger? Slowly, I took a step into the house and glanced around. I was in a wooden floored foyer with cream colored walls. There was a staircase against the wall to the left that led to the second floor. Straight ahead was a sliding door that led to the back porch and back lawn. A glass chandelier hung from the high ceiling ahead. It was in the position where someone could've stood on the second floor railing, jumped off, and swung onto the chandelier. To the left was a large, open archway that looked like it led into a dining room with the same floors and the beginnings of a tiled kitchen area. Through the archway to the right, where the girl had run off, was a carpeted area that looked like a living room. I could hear the sound of a TV playing along with small voices.

"Aimee."

My head snapped to the left where a tall, frail woman stood in the archway. Her dirty blonde hair was stick straight at the moment and stopped a little past her shoulders. Her big, dark blue eyes were bright and began to collect tears. She wore a regular t-shirt and jeans, but still managed to look elegant and beautiful. I got the stubborn attitude and competitiveness from our parents, but Aubrey got all the redeeming features.

Aubrey crossed the room and pulled me into a tight hug. Unsure of how to react I just let my hand pat her back occasionally until she let go. Ten years had passed since I last hugged my sister. I had been sixteen, her eighteen, and it had been just as uncomfortable as it was now. She set her hands on my shoulders, she was a good five inches taller than me at 5'8, and smiled, "Look at you. Your hair is so long now."

"Thanks, I grew it myself." I replied dryly. My light brown hair was much longer than Aubrey's now and went to about my mid-back. I actually planned to cut it soon, I just hadn't found the opportunity yet.

"Aimee, I-"

"I go by Aj now."

Aubrey let her hands fall to her hips as she chuckled, "Since when?"

"Since I was 18." I couldn't hold back the bitter tone in my voice. Aubrey flinched at my words before reaching out and taking my hand.

"Come on, let's talk."

I let Aubrey drag me through the archway she came through past the dining room into a medium sized kitchen. The light tan tiled floors were spotless and matched the dark wood counters and light marble countertops. The appliances were stainless steel, though you couldn't even see the color silver on the fridge due to all the papers and drawings hanging from the front by magnets. Large windows let in enough sunlight to brighten the entire kitchen and most of the dining room.

Aubrey motioned for me to take a seat at the kitchen island barstool. She noticed that I hadn't taken my bookbag off, but it probably wasn't the only thing she noticed about me. I saw the way her eyes glanced over my healing knuckles and bruised hairline. My lip was still a little busted as well and I'm sure that wasn't lost on her.

"Would you like something to drink? I have water, milk, juice, coffee-?" Aubrey opened the fridge.

I shook my head, "No thanks. Not thirsty."

She let the fridge close before coming over to stand across from where I sat. She leaned against the counter with her hands clasped in front of her. Aubrey gave me another one of her bright smiles, "So how have you been?"

"Less busy than you apparently." I answered, "You have another kid?"

"Twins." Aubrey glanced down at her hands before looking back up softly, "Taylor and Tyler. I wanted to tell you the news, but…getting in touch with you has always been a little hard."

I raised an eyebrow, "You managed to do it this time. How'd you get my address?"

"I…" She paused uncertainly, "I may have hired a private investigator."

"You _what_?"

"I'm sorry I just needed to get in touch with you Aimee."

"It's Aj." I snapped. This had been a mistake. Why hadn't I just hopped back in the cabbie and run away? Because I wasn't a runner, that's why. I took in a deep breath and moved back to the twins, "How old are they?"

Aubrey looked relieved at the questioned and quickly replied, "They just turned six. Tyler is the older by four minutes."

"Who's their dad?"

My sister blinked and a look of insult passed her features, "They have the same father as Peter."

The sound of laughter carried into the kitchen from across the house. Peter. That was what the oldest kid's name was. I was a bit ashamed to say I had forgotten it, but I never had forgotten his age. How could I considering the last conversation I had with my sister before she up and vanished was about her being prego with the kid.

"Right." I carried the word out, "Mr. Mystery. The one who pays for this huge house and all your living expenses, but won't stick around for you or his kids."

Aubrey shook her head with a defiant look in her eyes, "That isn't fair. You don't know Wes like I do."

"Thank God." I muttered under my breath. Aubrey looked away as her slim fingers clenched around each other. A part of me knew I was being a brat. This was an opportunity to reconnect, but all I was doing was mouthing off sarcastic remarks to her. I couldn't help it though. Sitting across from Aubrey after all this time was bringing up all sorts of bad memories. There had been a time in my life where I would've done literally anything for the woman across from me. Despite being two years younger, I played the role of older sister my entire life. I protected my petite, frail Aubrey from the bullies and the big bad world and what was the thanks I got? Abandonment.

That left a scar much deeper than any of the superficial ones I wore these days.

"Aimee- Aj." Aubrey began, "I'm sorry. Back then-"

I quickly stood up with a shake of my head. The last thing I was interested in was going down a walk on memory lane with her, "This was a mistake. I should go."

"Please, wait." Aubrey threw her arm across the counter and grabbed my wrist. I glanced back at her as her hand tightened around me, "I'm- I'm sick."

That's when I really noticed how much older my sister looked. The exhaustion alone made her look much older than her age of 28. Growing up, she had always been a sickly kid. Aubrey was weaker than the others, always catching colds, which was why I picked up the mantle of protective sister in the first place, the one who was quick to throw fists.

Aubrey opened her mouth and she said another word, but it didn't click in my mind right away. Did she just say cancer? No. No. No. That wasn't supposed to happen. Not to Aubrey. Aubrey was too good, she was too soft and kind hearted for something as destructive and evil as cancer. I was the one with the crappy, going nowhere life. She had something to live for, she had kids for crying out loud, young kids at that. I didn't realize I had been shaking my head until she came around the counter and softly cupped my face.

"Aimee." Aubrey gave a comforting smile, "I've already accepted it."

That didn't set me at ease. Not in the slightest. I pulled away from her with a glare, "_Accepted it_? You don't accept something like that, Aubrey!"

She chuckled, "Always a fighter."

"How long have you known?"

"About six months now."

"And your…the kids, do they…?"

Her warm smile melted away and a look of heartbreaking concern and pain filled her eyes. Aubrey's answer was soft, "N-No. No they don't."

I sat back down, letting my bag fall to the floor. Aubrey sat down in the stool beside me this time. Words failed me at the moment. I never considered myself a communicative person, but I usually at least had something sarcastic to shoot out, "When do you plan on telling them?" I was answered only with silence and a guilty look, "You do plan on telling them right?"

"That's kind of why I asked you to come."

"What? You want me to tell them the news?" I scoffed, "Hey kids, I'm your long lost aunt Aj. Nice to meet you guys and oh, by the way, your mom has _cancer_."

Aubrey set her hand on mine, "I don't want to tell them. They've been through so much with their father and I…." She paused, "The doctors said it probably isn't fatal."

"_Probably_." I repeated in disbelief.

"They caught it early on. I just have to go through the treatments and I should be fine." Aubrey nodded, "I sent you that letter and ticket because…because I don't want them to see me go through that. I was hoping you could watch them while I go through the treatment." I pulled my hand away from hers, but this didn't seem to faze Aubrey who continued, "The treatment should last two months-"

"Watch your kids?" I cried.

"Aimee-"

"I told you its Aj." I replied, not knowing what else to say. She wanted me to watch her kids? Two twin six year olds and a ten year old? I could barely take care of myself. I killed the goldfish I won at the fair last year after two days. There wasn't an earthly way possible I was capable of taking care of living and breathing children.

"Aj, please."

"No you- you're making a _huge_ mistake. You gotta have someone else who could do this. A neighbor or- or- or a family friend or something!"

Aubrey straightened her posture as a look of bewilderment flashed across her features, "Maybe if it was only for a couple days or so but…these are my _children_, Aj. I don't trust them with anyone else for that long."

"But you trust _me_?" I cried motioning toward myself with my hands, "You haven't seen me in ten years, Aubrey. _Ten years_! Listen to me when I say you do _not_ want me to do this."

She reached forward again to grab my hands in a calming motion, "But I know you, little sister. I know the type of person you really are and that's why I know you are the only person who can watch my kids."

I pulled my hands away from her and crossed my arms tightly so she wouldn't be able to grab them again. If she really knew the type of person I was, if she truly understood how much trouble I had gotten myself into, she wouldn't be asking me to do this. I wasn't the babysitting, mom type. I was a walking disaster. A lump formed in my throat, after all these years and this big discovery, I didn't want to lie to my sick sister, but…

"I have school." I blurted trying to find something that would keep me from having to say yes, "My Christmas break only lasts a couple weeks."

Did she already know that I had dropped out of all my classes? That I had lost my scholarship months ago and couldn't afford to continue my last leg of school? That I didn't even have the self-motivation to try for a different career or option? Based on the look of absolute guilt on my sister's face I figured she didn't know that. The private investigator had apparently only tossed her my address and bailed.

"I know." Her voice broke. Aubrey's guilt began to eat me alive. Only she would make me feel guilty about making someone feel guilty, "I know, and I feel horrible for even asking. I know how much school means to you." My eyes broke away from her gaze. It used to mean the world to me. "But like I said…you're the only person I trust and- and I'm desperate."

I sank in my seat. It killed me a little bit to be this close to my sister and not be able to fix anything in her life. I couldn't knock cancer's teeth out with my fist. Life was so much simpler back in the day where her issues were just school bullies, back when we were two peas in a pod. Call it an old habit, but I wanted to make the worry, pain, and desperation disappear again. For that reason alone I knew at that moment that there was no physical way I could say no to her request.

"Mama!"

The sound of a young boy's panicked cries made me jump in my seat and whirl around to face the problem. Whereas I was tense and alert, Aubrey still seemed relaxed and at ease. The look on her face, a small smile peeking through, made me realize that she recognized the fact that this panicked tone wasn't anything serious. Her child wasn't in any danger.

A few seconds later a six year old boy whipped around the corner clutching something to his chest. His dirty blond hair was messy and short. The front strands were pushed up into the air and away from his eyes. He looked a lot like his twin sister obviously, with the same eye color that reminded me of Aubrey. He wore a red t-shirt and jean shorts with mix matched socks.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Aubrey questioned.

The kid paid me no mind as he held the toy clutched to his chest up for his mom to look at. My eyes focused in on a toy robot. It wasn't a small action figure, but rather more of a large model. It had a white and dark gray body with a red and blue stripe going down its chest area. The number four sat on top of the stripes. The toy was a couple inches short of being a foot tall and it was missing its arm.

"Jazz's arm fell off _again_!" His eyebrows were scrunched up in worry for his toy. Aubrey took the toy from him. He dug an arm out of his pocket and handed that to her as well.

Her attention darted to me with a smile, "Tyler, this is your Auntie Aj. Can you say hi?"

Tyler's eyes widened as he quickly looked to me, "This is your sister?" Aubrey nodded and he immediately looked hopeful, "That means you're a doctor! That's what mama always says!"

I'm pretty positive I felt my heart stop at that moment. She had told them I was trying to be a doctor? How much did she talk about me to them?

An awkward laugh escaped my lips, "Well I uh, I'm not actually a doctor. I don't-"

"Can you fix Jazz!?" He cried. "He needs a medic now and Ratchet is too busy!"

"Can I- _Jazz_?" I blurted in confusion. Most of his sentence had been nonsense to me. Aubrey handed the toy to me and I took it hesitantly. The toy was actually made of metal rather than a cheap plastic. It was probably aluminum or something. My eyebrows furrowed in thought as I gazed at the robot in my hand. A black helmet thing covered the top of its head with a visor over what I assumed were eyes. The thing had a human like face somewhat. Lips. Chin. Nose. I glanced back up at Tyler who was staring at me. "Oh. _Jazz_."

"Can you fix him? Please?"

Tyler clasped his hands together in a begging motion that matched his pleading eyes. Who knew a kid's eyes could be so big and blue? This wasn't the first time I had seen a look like that though. In that moment he looked just like his mom so many years ago and my heart skipped a beat. My jaw clenched in resolve, "Lemme see what I can do, kid."

Aubrey handed me the toy arm and I took a moment to see how it would fit in. At least it was a cleanish break, the arm socket didn't have any screws or anything. In fact, it looked like the arm should be able to just snap back into place so I did just that. There was a small click as it settled in, but I could tell that it wasn't much of a permanent fix. I glanced down at my bag. Around the strap of my bag was a dark green ribbon I had tied on a couple months back. It wasn't anything significant, I just hadn't felt like getting up to throw away the random ribbon and instead tied it to my bag.

I reached down and pulled it off with ease then began to tie it around the robot like a makeshift sling. To my utter surprise it actually came out looking like an actual sling for the thing's arm. A smile came to my face in victory as I handed the toy back to Tyler, "There we go. Just be careful with it."

He held it in his hands with a look of pleasant surprise written all over his face. It was silent a moment as I uncomfortably sat under both his and his mother's gaze. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and began to pull me forward calling out that I needed to follow him. My eyes widened in panic as I looked back to Aubrey for a sign or help or something. She just gave me an amused look.

My attention went back to Tyler who was pulling me out of the kitchen and into the living room. I was vaguely aware that Aubrey was following the two of us at a distance.

The living room was just as nice as the kitchen. The ivory colored carpet seemed like a poor idea to have with kids, but I digress. The walls matched the rest of the cream colored walls. On the far wall was a dark wood entertainment dresser with a large TV playing a colorful cartoon and a collection of music and movies. The coffee table that was situated in front of the TV was the same color wood. There was a long couch that sat behind the coffee table, a matching love seat, and a single seat couch as well.

"Not my paint!" Taylor cried out in her best impression of a male voice. She held a golden colored robot in one hand moving it around like it was the one speaking.

"Tay! Tay! _Tay_!" Tyler let go of my hand and rushed over to where his sister was sitting on the floor surrounded by a wide variety of robotic toys. She paused in her play to look at her twin, "She fixed Jazz!"

"Who? The stranger?" Taylor pointed at me. I should've expected the stranger part. They began to talk quickly and quietly to each other. I glanced over at the couch where an older kid sat. He had light brown hair that was a little longer than his younger brother's. He wore glasses over his gray eyes. This was obviously Aubrey's older kid, Peter. He glanced up from the comic book he was reading to look at me before burying his head back into his book. The title on it was 'Transformers'. Recognition filled my mind at the summer blockbuster that had come out a couple years ago about robots that turned into cars and stuff. A new movie had just come out too hadn't it? I remember it now because I had been invited to go see it in theaters with a close friend, but refused because I hadn't seen any of the ones that came before it.

"Stranger-" Taylor called out bringing my attention back to her.

Aubrey shook her head from behind me and corrected her daughter, "Aunt Aj."

"Aunt Aj." Taylor repeated slowly before continuing, "Can you fix Bumblebee? Starscream hurt him."

I blinked in confusion. Were these just more robot names? What the hell was a starscream? She lifted a yellow and black robot up for me to see. I had gotten lucky with the first robot. What if I couldn't fix this one and they hated me?

"Ummm…" I said dumbly.

"Did you guys finish your homework?" Aubrey asked with a light, scolding tone.

"Yes." Peter answered without looking up while the twins remained silent.

Aubrey put her hands on her hips and looked so much like our mom that I couldn't help but smile. The twins groaned and slowly began to stand up. She smiled, "And put all the bots away. Understood?"

They began to pick up the many toy robots. I chuckled at the sight of the small twins trying to hold them all in their arms. I always thought toys like these were supposed to be small, like fit in your hand small. The biggest one, which was also strangely shaped like a T-Rex of all things, reached a little above my knee.

"Why are they so big?" I asked aloud.

"They're technically collectible items which is why they're also made of metal, but that hasn't stopped them from playing." Aubrey chuckled. She opened her mouth to speak more when her phone began to ring. She pulled it up to her ear quickly, "Hello?" A smile came to her lips as she looked to me, "I have to take this. I'll be right back."

I curiously watched her leave me alone in the living room with the kids. Peter still paid me absolutely no mind, but the twins took this as an opportunity to play a little bit longer. They settled on the floor by my feet again.

"Mama said you're staying with us for a while, right?" Tyler asked innocently.

My lips formed a frown, "Um. Yeah, probably."

"Yay! Doctor aunt Aj, sit down!" Taylor tugged on my hand.

I slowly sat down in front of the twins, "You can just call me Aj. It's less of a mouthful."

"You can call me Taylor or Tay or Starlight." She beamed and I could feel my eyebrows rise in confusion.

"_Starlight_?" I asked, "Is that on your birth certificate?"

Taylor giggled, "It's my designanon, silly."

"Designa_tion_, Taylor." Peter corrected his sister without even looking up from his comic book.

Taylor nodded, "Mama came up with it for when we play!"

"Mine is Lightspeed." Tyler announced proudly. I chuckled to myself. These kids were kind of cute. Man, did I miss the days where I could just play make believe with my sister and not have to worry about anything else. I reached forward and picked up the toy closest to me. It was taller than the one with the broken arm that I fixed and slimmer. It was bright, cherry red with a couple accents of white here and there on its legs and arms. It also wore a black helmet thing but this one had no visor. Instead it had two solid, light blue eyes. On its chest was the black robot insignia face thing that was always on the movie posters. I couldn't remember if it was the good guy one or bad guy one though. Blue eyes were good guys right? Maybe I should've seen those stupid movies, it'd make befriending the kids much easier.

"That's Sideswipe." Taylor scooted over so she was sitting on my right and Tyler moved so he was on my left. "He's an autobot."

Tyler picked up the toy Taylor had been playing with when I walked in. It looked an awful lot like the red one except it had more metal pieces around its shoulders and a yellow vent looking things coming out of the side of its helmet, "This is his twin, Sunstreaker. They're front liners which means they fight a lot and they used to be gladiators. Right, Pete?"

"Yupp." Came Peter's not so enthusiastic reply.

"Twin, gladiator robots-" I began.

Tyler shook his head, "Mechs. Twin, gladiator mechs."

"Right." I nodded as if I had any idea what that meant. I set the red one down, "So are they y'all's favorite then? Since they're twins too?"

"No." Taylor shook her head, "My favorite is Bumblebee."

I watched her pick back up the yellow and black one. This one had doors coming out of its back making it look like it had wings. I remembered what she had said about Bumblebee needing fixing, "He's broken?"

Taylor turned the toy around to show how one of the doors sticking out of its back was loose and nearly falling off. This looked much easier to fix though. In fact, it looked like the screw was just loose or something.

"Looks like an easy fix, honey." I voiced nonchalantly. Her little face lit up in excitement and I couldn't help but smile back at her.

"My favorite is Bluestreak!" Tyler said firmly holding up a toy for me to look at. It was a collection of red, dark gray, and light gray colors with the only blue being his eyes. He had the same symbol on his chest and doors on his back like Bumblebee.

"He isn't blue." I thought aloud.

"Well, duh. Pete says they call him Bluestreak because he likes talking and he does it a lot." Tyler blurted.

I nodded, "I see why he's your favorite."

Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Peter smiling, but when I looked over to him the smile was gone. Tyler continued on, "Blue's my favorite because he's a sharpshooter and I think that's so cool."

"Who's your favorite, Peter?" I asked trying to drag the kid into the conversation. He glanced up at the sound of his name, but the look on his face told me he didn't plan on answering my question.

Taylor didn't notice her older brother's glare and answered for him happily, "Pete likes Wheeljack."

That answer didn't hold much weight in my mind since I had no idea who the hell Wheeljack was and Aubrey came back into the room before the twins could point out the toy.

"Sorry about that." Aubrey walked back in. She noticed the twins and their shared 'deer in the headlights' look. "Guys."

"Sorry!" They chirped together and began to pick up all the toys again at a faster pace. Tyler shifted all the ones he held to his right hand and then picked up one with a noticeable life line on its forearm. He shoved it into my hands without warning, "You should hang onto Ratchet for us."

Ratchet. Wasn't that name tossed into a conversation earlier? I glanced down at the bulky white and red robot. When I looked up to Aubrey she wore a growing smile so I just looked back to Tyler, "Why are you giving me…Ratchet?"

"Because he's the CMO." Tyler replied in a 'duh' tone, "I cant remember what that stands for, but it means he fixes all the other bots just like you fixed Jazz."

"Well, I mean-"

Taylor grinned, "Keep a good eye on him! The team needs him."

"Thanks." I nodded with the toy still in my hand, "Good luck with your homework. Lightspeed, Starlight."

The twins noticeably beamed at me calling them by their robot nicknames and it made me lightly laugh to myself. They turned and took off for the stairs in the foyer to head to what I assumed would be their rooms.

"Hey, Pete." Aubrey called out making the give her his attention, "Do me a favor and help them out, please?"

He nodded and closed his comic book before walking off in the same direction. I watched him go with my arms crossed tightly across my chest. "He doesn't like me much. Not that I blame him."

She shook her head and set a hand on my shoulder, "Peter just takes a little to warm up to new people. By the end of the week he'll adore you." I held back a scoff of disbelief and tried to hand her the toy the twins had given me. Aubrey held her hands up, "Oh, no. They trusted you with Ratchet, not me."

"Right." I sighed and let my hand drop to my side, "Guess I'll be keeping an eye on the big ass collector item slash toy."

Aubrey glanced at the toy with a warm smile, "Wes sent a few of them to Peter before the twins were born. Peter just fell in love with them. Then he just kept sending more and more and now the twins adore them too."

For a second, I completely understood. I knew what it was like to latch onto something and hold onto it. For Peter, this was all he had of his absentee father. The hatred I had for this Wes guy just seemed to grow every day. The only sound in the room was that Disney cartoon playing on TV until I finally found the nerve to speak up, "What type of cancer is it?"

"Breast cancer." Aubrey answered softly. I bobbed my head up and down but dropped my gaze so it was on the toy in my hand again. My mind was still reeling at the fact that Aubrey had talked about me to the kids at all. If she had known that I had given up on the doctor option in my life would she have told them that too? "Can I show you something?"

My eyes locked onto hers and I nodded again. She led me into the foyer and then up to the second story where the kids had just run off to. The hallway on the second floor was wood with pictures hanging on the cream walls. Aubrey motioned down to the left of the hall, "The kid's rooms are on the right. The twins share and Peter has his own, but they all share a conjoining bathroom. My room is across from theirs." I glanced down there at the three shut doors. Aubrey led me down to the right of the hallway, "The first door is a bathroom with a shower. The second is our gym and office, and then the door across from them is your room."

I opened my mouth to question why Aubrey would have a gym in her house. It didn't make much sense considering my sister wasn't exactly know to be the physical activity type, but my mind quickly jumped to the topic of me having my own room. Had she set up a room for me?

"My room?"

"It used to be storage, but I fixed it up so you could stay here. If you decided to watch the kids or if you just wanted to…you know, visit." Aubrey shrugged, but the sadness in her tone made me want to punch myself in the face. I pushed the door open and stepped in while she stood in the doorway nervously.

The room was medium in size and matched the rest of the house wall and floor wise. There was a double sized bed pushed up against the wall in the far left corner with a light blue bedspread and a thick, white comforter on top. There was a dresser against the wall in the far right corner and a matching dark wood nightstand by the bedside. I assumed the door to the left was a small closet. To my immediate right was a small desk and to my immediate left was a huge pile of cardboard boxes and random junk.

"After dad died we lost all our stuff, remember? Turns out they got moved to storage and after I…after I got this place. They sent it all to me." Aubrey explained.

I took a step toward it and peeked at all the box labels and items that were already pulled out. My eyes landed on a familiar light blue item resting between two rather large stacks, "No way." I carefully pushed the first stack to the side to reveal the item more. A light blue and white softball bat lay on the floor. Next to it, in an open box, was a volleyball, two yearbooks, and a few other items from my high school years.

"You were always so good at sports." Aubrey chuckled, "I know you could've gotten a softball or volleyball scholarship if you kept playing."

Her words made me turn around and ignore the items. I didn't want to think about sports or why I had stopped playing altogether, "I'll watch the kids."

"You- You will?"

"Yeah, but-"

Aubrey didn't let me finish. She rushed across the room and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. This is what I missed. I missed Aubrey's hugs, I missed her in my life, and it felt so good to be in this nice house talking to her again, but I couldn't. I couldn't just hug her back and let things go back to the way they were. I slowly pulled myself away from her.

"Aubrey, I'll watch them, but this doesn't…doesn't change anything." I said carefully, "I love you. I realize that even after all these years of being so…so angry at you, I still loved you. You're my sister and I…" I stopped myself and shook my head, "I'll always love you. I'll always be here to help you and support you as best I can, but we can't be what we used to be. We'll never be that level of close again."

"Aimee." Aubrey breathed.

"Mom died and my heart broke." I bit my lip, "Then it was just the three of us and things slowly got better again. I didn't feel whole, but I felt not so broken. Then dad was gone. He just disappeared and left us on our own and it killed me on the inside." I shook my head, "You were the only person in the world I trusted and you abandoned me. Wes showed up, you turned 18, and then it was just me. Me alone in that stupid foster home for two years."

Tears built up in Aubrey's eyes. I could see her regret, her pain and remorse, "I'm so sorry. I had to. You don't understand."

"I don't." I agreed, "I don't understand how you could ditch me after everything."

"I want to fix this. I want to fix us."

I sighed as my thoughts drifted to her sickness. If I left things unsaid I could never live with myself, but in my mind I knew the end game to this. Aubrey was going to get better. I knew it in my heart and soul that she'd beat this. "Consider us fixed. It's all in the past, forget about it. Just know that I can't…I can't give you my trust again."

"I understand." She replied after a moment.

"So, now what?"

Aubrey wiped a stray tear away as I averted my gaze, "Well, my flight leaves late tomorrow morning-"

"Tomorrow morning?" I blurted in surprise, "What if I had shown up late? What if I hadn't shown up at all?"

Despite the sad look lingering in her eyes, Aubrey chuckled, "I know my little sister. Come here."

She left the room. A sigh escaped my lips as I glanced at the desk. The thought of leaving the toy here crossed my mind, but I decided to bring it with me just in case the kids popped up again and wanted it back. I followed her out of the room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen where my bag still sat on the floor ribbonless.

"Is that really all you brought?" She questioned.

I shrugged, "I didn't know it was going to be a two month trip."

Aubrey pulled out a folder from a counter drawer and set it down on the island in front of me. I set the toy down on the table top and picked up the folder curiously.

"Inside there's a list of all the numbers you might need. They still have school for another two weeks before their Christmas break begins. I'm leaving the car for you, keys are hanging by the garage door." Aubrey explained, "Taylor has dance lessons every Thursday but they won't start again until after Christmas. There's a map in there too that shows where the school is and-"

"I know where everything is." I interrupted her, "Maybe it slipped your mind, but this isn't just your hometown. I was born and raised here too. I can't believe that after ditching this place at 18 you came back to settle down."

Aubrey just shrugged, "Summerbrooke, Alabama will always be home. It's where my best memories are." The same went for me which is the exact reason why I picked a college in upstate New York and fled like the devil was on my heels when I turned 18. I wanted to get as far from here as physically possible. I would've moved to China if the possibility had been open. "You know, I think some girls from your graduating class live in the neighborhood a few streets down."

I made the mental note to avoid exploring the area a few streets down from here. The last thing I wanted, or needed, was to run into an old high school classmate who had settled down here.

"Anything else I need to know?"

"Nothing comes to mind." She replied. I picked up my bag and slung one strap over my shoulder with the folder tucked under my arm. Aubrey smiled, "Tonight I wanted to go out and eat with the kids. Would you like to come?"

I quickly shook my head, and this time I wasn't saying no just for my own selfish reasons, "Go out with your kids. Have a good night with them, I'll get settled here."

Aubrey seemed to understand that I was giving her one last normal night out with her kids before she left. She gave me a thankful nod before I turned on my heel and went to leave the room.

"Wait", She called out making me turn, "Don't forget Ratchet."

I raised my eyebrows, "Right. Can't forget the doc bot."

With a sigh I picked up the toy and continued on my way back to my new room. The entire time I had been in this house so far, my mind had been focused on seeing Aubrey and her new illness. I hadn't even let my mind wander to the fact that I was back home in Alabama. The stress that came with that thought process made me roll my eyes and force it out of my mind. I stepped into the room, but came to a halting stop when I noticed Taylor sitting on the desk chair swinging her legs with a toy in her lap.

"Umm hi?"

She beamed at me and jumped off the chair, "Finally! I was wondering where you and Ratchet went."

"What's up, kid?" I questioned and let my book bag fall to the floor. Taylor took the yellow and black robot in her hands and set him on my desk in a seated position.

"Bumblebee needs to be fixed so I brought him to the med bay for you and Ratchet to fix him."

"The…med bay?" I questioned and walked over to the desk. I set the folder down by the seated Bumblebee. Talking to these kids made me realize I was gonna have to google some transformers information before I lost my freaking mind.

Taylor nodded as Aubrey called for her kids to come downstairs, "This is the med bay now. You and Ratchet share. Bye Bee!"

The little girl ran by me, ignoring my looks of confusion, and took off down the hall. I lifted the red and white toy in my hand, "Hear that, Ratchet? We're sharing."

I scoffed at myself before tossing the toy onto the desk. If I was going to actually stay here for the next two months, I'd have to clear up a few things back in New York. I sat down at the desk and used my foot to pull my book bag towards me and then began to dig through the thing for my cellphone. The bulky pre-paid slip phone from Walmart was nearly dead, but it had enough life in it for me to make one call. At least I hoped it did. My mind sent up silent prayers for the thing not to die while I typed the phone number in from memory.

It rang three times before a husky, exhausted voice answered, "What?"

"Kyle", I chuckled, "Did you just wake up?"

"I had a fight last night. Didn't end well."

Worry instantly flooded my systems at the thought of an injured Kyle, "What? Are you ok?"

"Peachy. It'd be better if my favorite doctor didn't up and leave the state though."

I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my seat, "I'm not a doctor."

"Close enough." Kyle grumbled. I could picture him lying in his small bed with messy, ruffled blond hair and his green eyes closed. The fact I didn't want to picture was the injuries and bruises he was probably sporting now.

"Actually, my lack of a degree means I am not a doctor nor am I even close to being one." I replied. He mumbled something over the line again sleepily, "Listen, I need to ask a couple favors from you. Two actually. First, I need you to go to my apartment and pack up all my stuff. Well, not all, but like I need my clothes and anything essential you might see. Pack it all up and then send it to me. The address is-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Kyle sounded more awake now, "Send you stuff? I thought you would be back by this weekend?"

"Change of plans." I glanced around the room.

There was a pause before Kyle spoke up again, "Aj, boss is not going to like that. You're scheduled this Saturday for the arena. He already gave you your loan!"

"I know! I know." I sighed, "That's my second favor. I need you to return the 20k to him."

"He gave you 20k for that fight?" Kyle asked in surprise.

"You know how it works, Kyle. He gave me 20k to bet on myself. If I win I get to keep 10%, if I lose I fall even further into debt." I shifted nervously, "Kyle, I really need you to get him that 20k. I'm already so far in debt to boss. If I lose that 20k he'll have my head."

Kyle sighed on the other end, "You know I have your back, Aj. I'll get him the money. Where is it?"

"Duffel bag under my bed."

"How long are you going to be gone?"

"Two months." I answered, "I'll text you the address I'm at so you can send me my stuff.

"Sure. I'll get on that now." Kyle replied, "Is everything ok?"

"I…I don't know. I'll talk to you later."

"Later."

The line disconnected and I opened a new text to send Kyle the address. Kyle Osborne. He was the one good thing I had going for me at the moment. He was best friend and probably the greatest guy on the planet. Not to mention he was easy on the eyes. He was the one who introduced me to boss and got me started in the New York fighting ring. If it wasn't for him I'd probably be living on the streets.

The text sent so I dug out my phone charger and plugged it in. A confirmation from Kyle was received by my phone, but I had my attention elsewhere. The yellow and black toy was staring me down from the desk. All it needed was a screw tightened. I pulled out my bathroom bag and found my nail clippers. Attached to the nail clippers was a nail file that would be perfect for the small screw. I knew it would work because this was the same nail filed I used to tighten the small screw on my sunglasses.

It literally only took a minute before the door wing thing on the toy's back was as good as new. Based on the way I saw the kids playing with the toys though, I was sure this wouldn't be the last time I fixed one or two of them up. I tossed the nail file onto my desk and walked out of my room with Bumblebee in hand.

The house was quiet already so I assumed they had already left. Down the hall, the twin's room door was already open so I just walked over and stepped in. The room was obviously split between a girl and a boy and it was decorated almost in a stereotypical function. The left had a twin sized bed with rocket ship bedsheets and was surrounded by a mess of lego blocks, toy cars, and little army men. To the right was a twin sized bed with Disney princess sheets and surrounded by coloring books and barbie dolls. I chuckled and glanced over at the window against the far wall and the door on the right side of the room. I assumed that was the adjoining bathroom door.

Sitting on Tyler's bed was the same toy he had called his favorite. It was the one that wasn't actually blue, but had the word blue in his name. The thing sat against the pillow and I was surprised to see it was the only visible transformer toy in the room. Where had they put all the others? I set Bumblebee down on Taylor's bed just like the other was on Tyler's and then left the room. My set path was to my own room, but I couldn't help but pause outside of Peter's room. Curiosity got the better of me and I pushed the door open to peek in.

The room was smaller than the twins, but it was perfect sized for a ten year old boy. His bed was pushed against the wall in the center of the room under a window. He too had a desk with books on it, there was a math book open to a random page. To my left was a small wooden shelf where all the transformers stood. I let a low whistle out as I studied one that looked like Tyler's favorite except its doors read 'POLICE' on them. So it turned into a police car? It stood next to the one with I fixed with a sling. What was that one's name? I should've been paying more attention, I knew it had something to do with music. My eyes continued to trace over the room until I turned around and jumped, "Shit."

Eye level with me was another one of those toy robots, but this one wasn't fun looking in the slightest. Its gun metal gray body looked menacing, and its face was twisted into a sneer while its red eyes looked angry. This toy along with a few others with red eyes were kept in a glass case and looked to be in slightly better shape than the toys I saw today. I wondered why these were kept separate from the others. The wooden shelf had all the blue eyed ones whereas this glass case tower stored all the scary red eyed ones.

Without much thought I opened the case and pulled out the one I had come eye level with. However, the moment I picked it up the leg fell out of its socket. My eyes widened, but I remained calm. This wasn't an issue. I could fix this creepy toy before Peter and the others came back and everything would be ok. No need to panic.

"What are you doing?" I spun around to see Peter glaring at me. Ok, now I could panic.

"Shi-oot. Shoot." I blurted. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"This is my room. What are you doing here?" His eyes landed on the legless toy in my hand, "Other than breaking my stuff."

I glanced down at my hands, "I can fix that."

"Don't bother." He pulled the robot body and leg from my hands and stuck it back into the case before closing the door.

"You didn't go with your mom?"

"She forgot her wallet." Peter replied and held up the small clutch, "I ran in to get it for her."

"Right." I nodded, "Good. Well, I'll just…leave."

I quickly exited the room and Peter came out behind me closing the door behind himself. Awkwardly, I gave him a tight smile before rushing toward my room. It would be my luck to get caught by the kid as I snooped in his room. Honestly, I was such an idiot. Peter called out to me making me stop and look back at him.

"I don't like you, and I don't want you to stay."

After stating his piece, the boy walked down the stairs leaving me in the hallway alone. I let my face fall into my hands and a groan come from my throat. This was going to be a long two months.

* * *

><p>AN: So, first impressions? This is my first TF fanfiction so if I'm screwing anything up please let me know. Kay? Thanks. I'll post the second part depending on if you guys end up liking it so far.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Awake

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><p><em>"How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised by anything in life."<em>

_-Marcus Aurelius_

* * *

><p><em>The crowd was deafening. Their cheers and hecklings filled the basement like room as did the heat from their bodies. Every inch of the room was packed, but nobody dared pass the white ring drawn on the concrete floor that signified where the pit began. The pit was just as it sounded, it was a hellish indent in the ground where people fought, cried, and bled. It wasn't too deep, only going about a foot down into the ground but it was just right for keeping the spectators out of the fight and keeping the fighters in the ring.<em>

_That's where she was right now, circling the outer edge of the ring as sweat poured down her face. It didn't matter that she only wore a tight sports bra and spandex shorts, she still felt like she was on fire. The heat burned in her chest as she glared at her opponent. Tall, thick, and scary as hell was a good way to explain the large, obnoxious woman._

_"__What are you going to do now, small fry?" The woman mocked and waved her forward. _

_She didn't need to reply. She loved to talk, to shoot off snarky replies, but during a fight there was no need. It only distracted her from what she needed to do. A quick breath and she was moving. A punch was thrown out, but she was quick enough to duck under so she was behind the behemoth of her enemy. Two kidney punches and the woman stumbled forward in pain._

_The woman spun around shakily and suddenly was no longer the same opponent. She was no longer in the pit fighting for money._

_She was ten again with pigtails and a sister she loved more than life. The older boy in front of her taunted and mocked said sister along with the crowd of children around the three of them._

_"__Leave my sister alone." She demanded in a squeaky voice._

_"__What are you gonna do about it, small fry?"_

_She rushed forward and threw all her weight on the boy. He didn't expect it and fell to the ground with a cry. The hits that came weren't well orchestrated and consisted of a flurry of flailing arms aimed toward the boy's face and random bites._

_Nobody messed with her older sister. They were a team until the end._

**_"_****_I'm leaving, Aimee. I'm sorry, but I have to go."_**

I startled awake with wide eyes and a mild headache. For the first few seconds, I had no idea where I was. The room was clean and smelled fresh. There were no odd stains on the wall or ceiling and sunlight streamed through the window to my left filling the room with a soft light.

Alabama. I was in Alabama at Aubrey's house. I was safe. My body relaxed as I let out a sigh and my hands drifted to rub the sleep away from my eyes. There was an alarm clock on the nightstand to my right. The date and time flashed at me in a neon green color.

_Monday, December 8. 8:14 AM._

My eyes narrowed at the clock. How long had I been asleep? I went to bed rather early at around 7:30-ish, which meant I had for a freaking long time.

"I never sleep that long…" I murmured to myself rubbing my face with my hands. It had been a pretty stressful day overall.

A knock on the door made me glanced over just as Aubrey peeked her head in, "Good morning, sleepy head."

"Hi." I replied simply.

She stepped further into the room. Aubrey wore a turtleneck shirt with jeans, boots, and a winter vest over it, "So, I just dropped the kids off at school. You were asleep before we got back last night, but Taylor was just beside herself when she saw Bee on her bed."

It took me a couple seconds to connect her words to my memory, but I shrugged and nodded my head nonchalantly, "Yeah, no problem. It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing." Aubrey smiled warmly. There was a beat of silence before she clasped her hands together, "I have some breakfast left over downstairs if you're hungry. My taxi should be here any minute now. Oh, and remember that school ends at 3:10."

"Got it." I nodded and crawled out of bed. I made my way to the desk where my phone was plugged in and charging. There was only one unread text message and it was from Boss so I had no issues leaving it unread.

Aubrey leaned against the doorframe as I tossed my phone back down, "Aim- Aj, I don't meant to pry, but…is everything ok?"

"Well, my long estranged sister has cancer." I replied dryly.

"I meant with you."

I just shrugged, "I'm peachy."

Aubrey obviously wasn't convinced by my answer. Her eyes darted to the fading bruise at my hairline before snapping back to my gaze, "What happened?"

The tone suggested that she already knew the reasons for the bruise, but she didn't want to confirm it herself. I gave her a tight smile and let my fingers brush against the bruise, "Slipped in the shower. Those faucets are a bitch."

It wasn't a total lie I suppose. I had really slipped, it just hadn't been in a shower. It was in a small concrete fighting ring and it wasn't a spot of slick soap that sent me sprawling to the floor. Rather, it was a 200 pound mass of muscled woman looking for my blood.

"Alright", Aubrey conceded, "Just…be more careful in the shower, hmm?"

I could hear the double meaning behind her words and the worry in her eyes that I would scorn her concern. The care she showed for me though was nice. It felt good so I just nodded with a small smile, "So, breakfast?"

* * *

><p>One thing that hadn't changed over the ten years of no contact between me and my sister was her cooking skills. In fact, she may have even gotten better. French toast, warm syrup, a non-burned egg, and those little sausages made me feel like I was eating a breakfast fit for royalty. I was more of a '<em>throw a hot pocket in the microwave and run out the door with it<em>' kind of breakfast person. As I ate, I actually began to pity the kids. They had to go from this five star home cooked mom food to my amateur level cooking. I knew how to make pasta and…cereal. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should go out and by a '_Cooking for Dummies'_ book or something.

It didn't take long for me to inhale my food, so as I placed the dishes into the sink with the plans to wash them later I heard the sound of a car horn outside. Without much haste, I strolled into the foyer where Aubrey was checking her bags one last time beside the front door.

"Here, let me." I stepped forward and grabbed the heavier of the two bags. It was her dark blue duffel bag and by the weight of it I think she might've packed rocks. She smiled as I slung it around my shoulder and then exited the house pulling her small suitcase behind her. Aubrey parked her suitcase outside of the cab by the trunk and turned to look at me.

"Thank you again, Aj." She began as I dropped her duffel bag by her suitcase. The cab driver got out of the car and began to pack the bags into the trunk for her.

My hand rose to rub the back of my neck sheepishly. Goosebumps had risen on my skin from the cold morning air. It didn't help that I only wore sleep pants and a baggy v-neck shirt, "No problem. You just…You just get better, Aubrey."

She closed the space between us and pulled me into a quick, tight hug. As Aubrey pulled away she forced an envelope and plastic card into my hand.

"What is this?" I tore my gaze away from her to look at the items. The letter had my name written on the front and the paper looked a bit aged. The plastic was a credit card with Aubrey's name on it.

"Use it to pay for groceries and anything else. Gas, clothes, whatever you need." She pressed.

I shook my head, "I can't use your card."

"You can and you will. Wes makes the payments."

I bit back a scoff, "Well if it's his money I'm spending…Is he- Is he paying for the treatments?"

"Yeah." Aubrey nodded.

"Is he going to be there for you?"

She paused before replying, "He's going to try."

This time I didn't bother hiding my scoff. If I ever met this guy, I'd break his nose. I feel like I have more than enough justification to do so without feeling any remorse. The taxi driver cleared his throat grabbing both our attention, "Whenever you're ready, ma'am."

"Thank you." Aubrey nodded then glanced back to me, "The letter is for you to read. I wrote it…a while ago."

"Sure thing." I mumbled under my breath.

"I'll try to call as often as I can." Aubrey pulled the cab door open. I rested my hand on top of the door as she climbed into the back. My mouth opened to say something, anything, but no words seemed to form. Instead, I gave her a tight smile and nod before shutting the door for her.

I remained standing at the end of the lawn until the taxi was gone and out of sight. My eyes drifted to the two objects in my hand one last time before turning around and heading back into the warm house.

Luckily, last night, before I passed out in my bed from exhaustion, I was unable to unpack the items I did bring with me. My weeks' worth of clothes were hanging in my closet and all my bathroom items were tucked away where they were supposed to be. I still didn't have any soap, but I planned to go into Aubrey's bathroom and steal hers. I had also managed to explore the house a little more which is why I found out that there was another bathroom downstairs connected to the living room and if one went through the kitchen the hall at the back of the house led to two things. To the left was the door into the garage and off to the right some, but still on the wall in front of you would be the laundry room. It'd be nice to have a washer and dryer in the house rather than having to go to a Laundromat.

Still, even though I was personally unpacked there was still some things I needed to get done. A shower topped the list forming in my mind, my greasy hair was proof of that. Also, those dishes still needed to be washed in the kitchen and the leftovers from breakfast put away. On top of all that, a small part of me wanted to sort through the mountain of boxes in the corner of my room and put some things away just so I wouldn't have to stare at the ugly brown containers.

It took me all of a minute to get up the stairs to my room and place the credit card into my wallet beside my ID. I stared at the letter for a few seconds before stuffing it into my empty book bag under my new desk.

"Out of sight, out of mind, right Ratchet?" I said aloud. Unsurprisingly, the red and white toy didn't reply to my statement. I was talking to the kid's robot toy. This had to be a symptom of losing my mind, right? Quickly, before I could question my sanity any further, I grabbed a change of clothes and headed toward the bathroom. There had been a towel closet inside the bathroom so I didn't bother looking anywhere else for one.

I stepped out of my room, but instead of going straight to the shower I paused and stared at the door beside it. The office with a little gym was behind that door. I hadn't bothered peeking in yet, but what would be the harm? When I opened the door and peeked my head in, I was pleasantly surprised.

The floor was hardwood just like the hall and bedrooms. To my right was a corner desk nestled beside a tall shelf lined with books. The desk itself had a desktop computer on it and a couple folders as well. My eyes were drawn to the left corner of the room where a small weight set sat beside a treadmill and a punching bag hung from the ceiling. It made absolutely no sense for Aubrey to have this mini gym in her home. The kids were way too young for this stuff and Aubrey was never the working out kind. I tossed my clothes into the desk chair and stepped further into the room.

My feet automatically drifted to the bright red punching bag. It was a bit worn down in some places meaning it wasn't brand new. Someone had faithfully used the bag. I lifted my hand and used my knuckles to push the bag forward. The bag swung back and forth lazily as my lips twitched up into a small smile. I could feel the itch form in the back of my mind as my hands craved contact. My eyes drifted down to my fists to see the fading coloring of my knuckles. What would a few more bruises hurt?

The first few punches were light and held no weight behind them. It was just me going through the motions, but each time my skin brushed against the bag the itch grew. Anger began to settle in my gut. Anger at the world. It didn't blind me or fill my head with a suffocating fog. It was clear. Concise. It put every inch of my life into a perspective I could understand.

That was the thing about fighting. At first, it had just started as a way to protect the ones I loved. How many times had I gotten in trouble for hitting a kid that mocked Aubrey? Geez, how many stars were in the sky? Then it became a sport. I was taking lessons, kickboxing being the first, and it just became another sport to me. I put it on the same list as softball and volleyball. Then out of nowhere, dad left. Suddenly, I didn't feel like swinging a bat or spiking a ball, but I never stopped feeling like I wanted to hit something. Aubrey hated when I would fight, but it was still controlled. I was mainly just sparring people in my class. I had to though. Fighting had become my only protection against the world and I needed to be strong. Mom and dad weren't there to protect us anymore which meant I needed to be the shield between frail Aubrey and the rest of the messed up world.

Then Aubrey left and fighting was no longer just the only protection I had.

It was _all_ I had, period.

My heart was broken, my soul had been shattered, and my mind had become a jumbled mess. Yet, when I was thrown into a fight things became clear. The haze would lift and my thoughts became manageable. Fighting was my drug of choice, it was my crutch, and my addiction. Thinking was easier when my body was in motion.

I took in a sharp intake of breath as I began to pound into the bag harder. My body found a rhythm as sweat formed at my hairline.

Aubrey was sick. She was sick, but I couldn't fix that.

Her kids were now my whole responsibility. They needed me now more than they even knew.

I wouldn't let them down. I was determined not to.

One last right swing of my arm then I came to a halting stop. Deep breaths filled my lungs with air as I slowly pulled my right arm back to my body. Fighting took the mental pain away. It made things easier to work through for me, but at what cost? I opened and closed my hands looking over the broken skin across my knuckles. The small spots of red alerted my mind that I should be feeling pain, but I had grown used to this feeling. This physical ache was nothing compared to the mess upstairs in my mind. I would take broken and bleeding hands over a jumbled thoughts any day of the week.

* * *

><p>'<em>3:11<em>' was the time on the dashboard. I had gotten to the elementary school eleven minutes ago in an old blue pickup truck that had seen better days. A part of me was thankful that the car wasn't anything flashy or high priced. Also, the car wasn't a minivan which was a miracle in itself. This seemed like the kind of car I would drive with old leather seats, a small front seat, and even smaller back seat, and the type of windows you had to crank to roll down. However, it didn't seem like the kind of car Aubrey would drive with three younger kids so I didn't understand that.

My eyes glanced at the dashboard again. It was '_3:13'_ now. The school looked like it was emptying out so I wasn't too worried. Holly Hill Elementary school housed kindergarten through 6th grade. It was decent sized and placed in a decent neighborhood about four miles from the house. It was also the same elementary school I went to as a kid. A small part of me wanted to go into the school and see what had changed over the many years, but the fear of running into a familiar faced parent I had gone to school with kept me locked in the car.

Finally, my eyes landed on a group of three searching the area. I leaned out the already open window, put my fingers to my mouth, and let out a loud whistle. The kids, and a few other curious bystanders, glanced over in my direction. I forced a smile and waved for Peter, Tyler, and Taylor to come over.

"Hi Aj!" Taylor greeted when they got close to the car. The twins wore matching grins whereas Peter looked a bit downcast. Was this kid allergic to smiling or something?

"Hey guys, how was school?" I asked. That was what you were supposed to ask a kid after school right? I distinctly remember being pounded with that question for years in my youth and hating it every single time. Now, ironically, here I was asking it.

"It was good." Taylor answered as all three climbed into the car.

Peter sat up front with me while both Taylor and Tyler crawled into the back. Should they have car seats? How old were kids when they didn't have to sit in a car seat anymore? Oh God, I was not prepared to take care of these children.

Tyler glanced around, "Where are Bluestreak and Bumblebee?"

All eyes shot to me. Taylor and Tyler had a curious look drawn on their face while Peter had more of a '_Now you did it'_ look that made me cringe. Day one and I had already screwed it up. To be fair though, Aubrey never mentioned to me that the twins liked having their toys pick them up from school.

"Uhh, well, you see", I dragged each of my words, "Ratchet…It- He wanted to…give all the other robots a checkup. Soooo Bumblebee and Bluestreak had to stay home. Yeah."

"Oh ok." Tyler nodded and leaned back in his seat. They all buckled up as my eyes darted over to Peter. He still wasn't wearing a smile, but the kid had a look in his eyes and it kind of looked a little bit like respect. I was totally counting that as a win for today.

The first half of the drive home was filled with Tyler telling me about what him and his sister did in school, and then immediately after he was done Taylor jumped in with a round of questioning that lasted the rest of the trip.

"Why do we call you Aj?"

"It stands for Aimee Jane."

"Why Jane?"

"It's my middle name."

"What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

"Chocolate chip."

"Do you have a favorite movie?"

"Maybe Back to the Future?"

"I don't know what that is. Do you like cats?"

"Nope."

"Dogs?"

"Yeah, dogs are pretty cool."

"Do you drink milk?"

"All the time."

"What's your favorite color?"

"I like red."

"Do you like dancing?"

"I'm not the best at it."

"Do you have a best friend?"

I pulled the car into the driveway and parked it. Did I have a best friend? Kyle briefly crossed my mind, but I wouldn't call him a best friend. Just a really close friend that I would love to make out with someday. I thought about the question for a moment before glancing back at Taylor's innocent look.

"Um, no. I guess not."

We all got out of the car, Peter was already heading for the door with his own key in hand and Tyler beside him, but Taylor latched herself to my side and slipped her hand into mind, "Why not?"

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"I'll be your best friend." She gave me a huge smile that I chuckled at, "I mean, technically I already have three best friends. Sam and Leslie at school and then Bumblebee of course, but you can't not have a best friend so we can be best friends too, ok?"

A real smile slipped onto my lips and I just nodded my head at her, "Sounds good. Thanks, kid."

Taylor nodded before letting go of my hand and running ahead of me into the house. I slowly followed them and closed and locked the door behind me. The sound of the TV turned on and I peeked into the living room to see a cartoon playing. Peter was sitting on the couch and the twins were nowhere to be seen.

"No homework?" I asked curiously. The cartoon had a talking blue cat and an orange fish, but I wasn't familiar with it at all.

Peter shook his head, "We do our homework after dinner."

Taylor and Tyler ran down the stairs, past me, and then jumped onto the couch beside Peter. Both had Bumblebee and Bluestreak with them.

"Right." I replied, "After dinner."

For all I knew he could've been tricking me. Maybe Aubrey made the kids do their homework as soon as they got home. How would I know? Doing it after dinner sounded like a decent enough plan though. Then it hit me.

_Dinner_.

I had to make dinner.

While the kids did their own thing I walked into the kitchen to look for my game plan. The fridge and pantry were both stocked and fully ready to be used, but was I ready to use them? There was macaroni and cheese. That shouldn't be too hard to make. She had bought the Easy Mac kind where all I had to do was throw it in the microwave. I was a pro at stuff like that. What else? I couldn't just feed them macaroni and cheese, they had to have like a meat or some form of protein. Maybe a vegetable too. I could do this. I could _do_ this.

Two hours later, about thirty minutes after five, I was sitting in a McDonald's booth across from all three kids as they ate their fast food. I thought I could do it, but come to find out I just honestly didn't want to. The fact that parents could get themselves to cook each night for their family was beyond me. Starting tomorrow I would actually cook things for the kids. I needed a night to get myself in that mindset though.

Peter looked content as he ate his burger, Taylor was happily munching on her fries while pretending to offer some to Bumblebee who was in her lap, and Tyler was devouring his food as if he had been starved for weeks. In fact, the kid might not have been breathing as he stuffed chicken nuggets and fries down his throat.

"The chicken is dead already, Tyler. It isn't going anywhere." I joked.

The kid didn't slow down, but Peter actually chuckled at my statement. I was gonna win this kid over if it killed me.

"Thanks so much, Aj." Taylor smiled.

I nodded, "My pleasure, guys."

"Mama never lets us eat McDonalds for dinner." Tyler grinned.

Great. That's just great. I gave them a tight smile, "Well, let's just keep that to ourselves then. Hmm?"

* * *

><p>The rest of the school week went just about the same as that first day. Minus the McDonalds trip though. I actually managed to feed the kids real food the next few days. Granted, they weren't gourmet meals, but they hadn't died from food poisoning or anything so that's a win.<p>

Aubrey hadn't called the first night, but every night since she would call to talk for a little while. She had gotten to the hospital alright, and so far the treatments were going ok. I would usually talk to her for a minute or two letting her know the kids were doing well and the house was still in one piece then I would toss the phone off to the kids and they would talk to their mom for around an hour.

"Socks into the laundry room, not the coffee table." I called when I spotted the polka dotted clothing articles lying about.

There was a pause before Tyler called out, "Starlight can't put her socks away, Megatron took her prisoner!"

"Well when she's rescued, tell her to put them away." I replied before entering the kitchen.

"Autobots, roll out!" Tyler called in a mock deep voice from the living room. I laughed to myself before setting upon the dirty dishes from dinner. It was Friday a little after eight and I was trying to figure out what the lot of us could do over the first weekend. It just felt like this being the first weekend with them and all I should do something fun.

I thought about asking Aubrey when she called earlier, but it just didn't come up. There was always the movie theater, but I didn't know if any good movies were out at the moment. The park could be enjoyable. A sigh escaped my lips as water and soap sloshed onto my shirt from the bowl I was washing.

"Tyler is standing on top of the coffee table again." Peter said as he walked into the kitchen making a beeline for the fridge.

"Tyler! Get off the table!" I yelled loudly. Peter raised his eyebrows briefly as he pulled a Capri sun juice pack from the fridge's drawer. "Hey, come here."

Peter stuck the yellow straw into the pack and took the few steps over to stand beside me at the sink, "What?"

"So, Pete."

"It's _Peter_." He replied bluntly and set his juice on the counter. In hindsight I should've taken that as a sign to not continue the conversation, but then again being thick headed tended to be one of my larger personality traits at times.

"Right. Peter. I was thinking maybe we could do something fun this weekend." I shrugged and turned the water off. The kitchen towel was on the island behind me and I used it to dry off my dripping hands, "I was just wondering if you could help me out and all. Like what would your mom do? Would she-?"

Peter's eyes narrowed, "You're _not_ our mom."

My eyes widened, "I never- I wasn't _trying_ to be, Peter."

"Hpmh." He huffed and turned to leave. I, of course, couldn't leave it at that and began to follow him out until both of us were in the middle of the foyer.

I caught his arm, "Peter, listen-"

"Leave me alone." He pulled away with a glare.

My own eyes narrowed, "Kid, what have I done to you? I'm just trying to do my best and you're shooting me down each time I try. I see you laugh at my jokes and try and hide smiles. Is it too much to just call a truce?"

"Why?" He replied with a frown, "It's not like you plan on sticking around."

"Wha-"

"Dad left, mom's gone, and you'll leave soon too." Peter crossed his arms, "No one stays."

I shook my head, "Hey, no. Your mom _isn't_ gone. She is coming back. You just talked to her on the phone, kid."

"You didn't say anything about yourself." He replied softly.

My face fell slightly as he turned around and headed up the stairs. I planned to follow, I wasn't going to let this settle on that note, but a soft voice stopped me.

"Aj?"

I glanced to the side to see Taylor and Tyler standing in the archway staring me down. Both had this broken, worried look on their faces that threatened to break my own heart.

"Are you really going to leave?" Tyler questioned.

It had been a week, not even a week. It had been five days and these kids had me wrapped around their little fingers. Maybe that's why I never even considered visiting Aubrey back when she first had Peter. I knew there was no way I wouldn't care about her kids. I stepped toward them and knelt down onto one knee.

"You guys listen to me." I said firmly, "I'm not going anywhere. You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Promise?" Taylor pressed.

I nodded and gave them a smile, "I promise."

The last thing I was expecting was a hug, but that's exactly what came from the both of them. They rushed forward and wrapped their arms around me nearly knocking me to the floor. I was touched though. The twins wanted me to stick around. Maybe, just maybe, deep inside them they understood how small our family was and this was their way of latching onto all they had. All I really knew though was that I was never going to just walk away. I wasn't going to do to them what my dad had done to me and Aubrey, what their father had already done to them.

"Alright, how about you guys go get ready for bed?" I said.

The two of them nodded before running back to the living room to grab their toys. I followed them and helped them gather the rather large amount of toys. Ten blue eyed ones and six red eyed ones in total. Luckily, the kids usually didn't play with many of the red eyed ones. It had something to do with Peter liking to keep those in the glass case because they were his oldest ones. They were some of the first ones that their dad bought him.

"Can the autobots sleep with us tonight?" Tyler asked.

I motioned them toward the stairs with toys in arm. I didn't take the time to look over the others in my arms and try to figure it out who was who. I still mixed up the autobot twins with each other and the decepticon jets with each other.

"I'll ask Peter, ok?" I nodded.

The kids headed to their room with most of the blue eyed ones, but I still had a few of them in my arms along with two red eyed ones. I paused outside Peter's door before using my foot to knock on his door. There was a moment of silence before the door opened.

I stepped in just as he turned back around to sit on his bed.

"So, the twins were hoping to sleep with the autobots tonight. Is that ok?"

Peter shrugged, "I don't care."

I sighed and set all the toys down on the end of his bed before moving to put some of the red eyed ones away. Apparently, he didn't like the way I was doing it because he heaved a groan and stood up to correct the way I put them. I chuckled lightly to myself and let him finish it up.

"I can leave Wheeljack in here if you'd like." I suggested. Wheeljack was the red, white, and green one with things on the side of his face and this mask thing over his lower face. It was kind of sad how proud I was at the fact that I was slowly figuring out what the hell these kids talked about.

"No thanks." Peter replied in a bored tone.

I took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I know what it's like to not be able to…put your trust in someone, but I want you to know that I'm not gonna bail out."

Peter didn't reply, but based on his gaze I had his attention.

"And I know just saying that doesn't make it any easier for you to trust me, but I'm gonna do the best I can to prove it to you kid." I said firmly, "I aint going anywhere. In fact, it might get to the point where you're so annoyed at me that you want to leave, but guess what. You're stuck with me."

I could see the corner of his mouth twitch up slightly and took comfort that maybe this was the first step to making things right. He gave me a small nod and I set my hand on top of his head to ruffle his brown hair.

"Now get to bed."

I quickly grabbed the blue eyed ones I had set down and left his room to go to the twin's room through their main door. Jazz was in my arms, I recognized him because of the green ribbon sling, I also had Wheeljack, the T-Rex one that I still couldn't remember the name of, and Optimus Prime. It was easy to remember his name because of the movie trailers and everything. He was one of the more well-known robots after all.

"Can they stay?" Taylor asked excitedly.

"Yupp." I smiled, "Autobots are sleeping over."

Tyler ran over to take the toys from my arms and settle them in the middle of the room with the others. I smiled at their little setup before giving them a glance over. Their pajamas were on.

"Teeth?" I questioned. Rather than answering they just gave me big smiles to show off their teeth. I chuckled and gave them a thumbs up, "A plus job. Now, to bed."

"Wait!" Taylor ran over and picked up Ratchet, "Here you go."

I shook my head, "Don't you think he wants to be here with the others?"

Taylor rolled her eyes of all things making me laugh, "Then you'd be by yourself silly."

"Right. Can't have that." I took Ratchet from her then watched them crawl into bed and under the covers making themselves comfortable. Tyler spoke up first, "Night, Aj." Taylor quickly followed, "Good night."

"Night kiddos." I replied hitting the lights and closing the door behind me.

My room looked the same as it did when I moved in. I still hadn't unpacked any of those boxes, mostly out of fear of digging up old memories. Also, none of the stuff Kyle had sent me arrived yet. I closed the door, set Ratchet onto the desk like usual, then began to change into my own pajamas. It only took me a few seconds to turn off the light and crash onto bed to sleep.

* * *

><p>I wasn't a deep sleeper. Never had been. So it wasn't unusual for a sound to wake me up from my sleep. This specific sound was like a shuffling, a thumping, and then a creaking. I slowly sat up and glanced around the room that was dimly lit by the rising sun from outside. I was groggy and didn't see anything out of place. My door was open, but I couldn't remember if I had closed it all the way earlier.<p>

I tilted my head to see the clock by my bed. It was a little after six in the morning. I could sleep another hour at least and with that thought I fell back into bed with my eyes closed.

* * *

><p>"Aj."<p>

Maybe if I ignored them they'd go watch Saturday morning cartoons or something.

"Aj."

Someone shook my shoulder.

"Aj."

I let out a sigh and replied with my eyes closed, "What's up, guys?"

Tyler and Taylor were standing by my bed. Peter could've been there, I wouldn't know with my eyes closed, but he hadn't said anything yet.

"The autobots woke us up." Tyler said.

I let out a soft hum, "Oh yeah? Well tell Optimus Prime to…" my voice faded and I didn't bother trying to finish my sentence. I needed another thirty minutes to sleep at the least.

"Aj, they're fighting downstairs." Taylor pressed.

"How about in an hour I-" I was interrupted by the sound of something crashing and a faint male voice crying out. It wasn't Peter. It wasn't Tyler. My eyes shot open and I sat up quickly. Someone was in the house. Another crash. "Stay in here. Lock the door behind me."

"But Aj-" Tyler began. I rushed across the room and grabbed my old softball bat.

"Lock the door behind me and don't open it for anyone but me." I said firmly. "Where's Peter?"

"We tried to wake him, but his door was locked. Both of them." Taylor replied.

That meant the guy downstairs maybe didn't know about any of upstairs. Peter was locked in his room safe and the twins would be locked in mine safe. I gave them a quick nod before leaving the room and closing the door. I waited until I heard the sound of the lock being engaged before moving down the hall.

My steps were silent and measured and I was equally as silent going down the stairs. Another crash and more voices. Shit, it sounded like a lot of voices. At least three distinct ones, but they were distorted and whatever they were saying definitely wasn't in English. My attention wasn't on those details though, they were already trying to form a plan. I was confident in my fighting skills, but I couldn't take on a huge group alone. If I went down then nobody would be there to protect the kids and these guys wouldn't get their hands on them. Over my dead body.

My grip tightened around the bat, there was one more crash that sounded like a pan hitting the floor. I took a deep breath before peeking around the corner.

Suddenly, I was convinced that I was still asleep. That or I was finally losing the remainder of my sanity. Maybe my eyes were just going bad? It had to be one of those things because it definitely wasn't the kid's robot toys walking, talking, and fighting in the kitchen. It couldn't be.

"No way. The _autobots_."

My head snapped back to see Peter beside me. We both had wide eyes, but mine were focused strictly on the boy beside me at the moment. His eyebrows rose and I spun back around to see all the toys staring at us with glowing blue eyes.

Please, oh _please_, just let me be losing my mind.

* * *

><p>AN: Thanks a ton to those who reviewed the last chapter! Hopefully this one was interesting as well. It was a little awkward to write b/c it's fillerish but it needed to be there.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

Unbelievable

* * *

><p><em>"<em>_I wish you'd help me look into a more interesting problem- namely, my sanity."_

_-Kurt Vonnegut_

* * *

><p>Peter was staring at the toys in star struck awe.<p>

The toys were staring at us with concern for their situation.

I was spinning my head back and forth from Peter with a look of surprise that he was able to so skillfully sneak up behind me without a sound, to the toys with a look of absolute confusion. At this rate I would get whiplash.

"Aj, the autobots are _alive_." Peter breathed as a slow smile began to creep onto his features. Now the kid decided to use those facial muscles? At a time like this, when I was fully questioning the universe and my sanity? "Look at them! Optimus Prime, Jazz, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Prowl. Sunstreaker! Sideswipe! Even Grimlock and look, look! Bee and Blue! Tay and Ty are going to _freak out_."

"Yeah, I know that feeling." I mumbled.

The toys glanced at each other. Their facial features scrunched up in a variety of increased worry, frustration, and distrust. Although, I feel like I was the winner of the most absurd facial expression at the moment. Then again, I wasn't even sure what my face must have truly looked like at the moment. How does one look when everything they thought they knew was possible was proved wrong?

I'm sure whatever my features expressed, it was nothing like Peter's. Saying the kid was beside himself in exhilaration was the understatement of the century. I hadn't heard him rant like that, or even speak for that long, since I freaking got here. For crying out loud, I was pretty sure he was about to pee himself in excitement.

"How the _frag _does the squishy know us?" The red twin held his arm out toward the two of us. His look was more of a confused 'what the hell was going on' whereas the yellow look-a-like beside him just looked pissy and annoyed. I was so absorbed in what their faces looked like I didn't even realize the thing was now speaking in English.

Peter, however, caught on immediately, "Whoa! So you guys _can_ speak English? Does that mean you're the G1 versions? Did you come from the Ark?"

My gaze had focused solely on him at this point. Was this actually Peter beside me? Like Peter Williams? At this point I was beginning to think that he and Tyler had a freaky Friday moment or something along those lines. Based on the length and speed at which he was talking, you'd think a taller, darker haired Tyler was standing by me instead.

"Wheeljack, what in Primus' name did you do this time!?"

I snapped my attention back to the scene out of toy story in time to watch Ratchet threaten Wheeljack with a little wrench in his red hand. The red, white, and green robot was on the kitchen floor holding up his arms in a feeble attempt to protect his face. Where did the little wrench even come from? I didn't remember the doctor robot coming with any accessories.

"Ratchet, I'm sorry! Stop!" Wheeljack cried as the other robot landed a blow onto his arm. None of the other toys even blinked an eye at the attack or moved to help him. In fact, I'm pretty sure they took a few steps away from the scene. "It was a small error in the timing portion! I set it- _ow_!- With enough time for us to get out of- _ow! Primus that hurts!_- of the blast radius but it must have- _OW, Ratchet, please!_- malfunctioned!"

"You're a malfunction, you slagging, bucket of-" Ratchet replied but the rest of his sentence leaked into partly the other robotic language and a bunch of unintelligible yelling.

"My thought is", Jazz with his green sling still intact was speaking now, in English, but with a heavy accent, "Why didn' Jackie's bomb just offline the whole lot of us?"

Wheeljack was dragging himself across the floor trying to escape from a fuming Ratchet, "He has a solid point!"

"Hold on, timer?" Bluestreak perked up as if hit with a thought. The door wings on his back twitched into an upright position and continued to move as he spoke with his hands, "I didn't see a timer on the thing Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had. I mean, normally it's easy to see because Wheeljack puts the timer on the front left where we can all see it. Remember? He started doing it after that one time where the timer was set, but no one knew how long it was set for, and we couldn't figure it out because the timer was hidden."

All the robots turned their gazes to the back of the group where the twins lazily stood. The yellow one kept his arms crossed over his chest and the red one held his hands up in innocence, "We just grabbed the thing on the left like Jack told us to."

"_Left_? No, not left!" Wheeljack cried, "Right! I said _right_!"

"Me, Grimlock, tired of this!" The T-Rex robot began to stomp in place, but nobody moved to placate it.

Optimus Prime narrowed his glowing, light blue eyes, "Then what exactly did the twins grab?"

"_I don't know_!" Wheeljack shrugged in horror, "It could've been _anything_!"

"Me, Grimlock, want to go _home_!"

That, of course, was when the dinosaur robot began to breathe fire into the air.

I grabbed Peter by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back so he was behind me. The toys jumped into action, trying to calm the dinosaur down, but that didn't stop the thing from scorching the cabinet with flames.

"Shit, _move_!" I forced Peter out of the kitchen with the plans to get him out of harm's way. The twins were still upstairs hiding which meant they were safe for the moment, but my goal was to get all of them out of the house. At this point, maybe even out of the state.

Peter tugged against my grip on him trying to break free, "Wait, Aj! I want to see them fight!"

"Hell no!" Your toy is breathing _fire_!" I barked back. Peter apparently didn't understand the danger in an out of control, toy breathing fire, and continued to fight against me

"Aj!" Two light voices chimed from upstairs. My gaze snapped to the top of the stairs where Taylor and Tyler stood in their pajamas. The dinosaur was still roaring in the kitchen, and I could hear the other toys screaming and arguing as well.

I pushed Peter towards the front door and quickly began to climb the stairs to grab the twins, "Come on, we're getting out of here!"

Tyler didn't move and just pointed down the hall to their rooms, "Aj, I think the decepticons are waking up!"

"What the hell did you just say?" I blurted and came to a halting stop midway up the stairs. The fact that I had cursed in a direct statement to Tyler didn't even register in my mind at the moment. Decepticons. Those were the bad ones. The red eyed ones. New voices filled the air, closer to us, and suddenly there were three jets zooming through the air. They banked right in our direction and flew right past the twins' heads then over mine. Taylor hadn't been expecting their closeness to her and stumbled forward down the stairs. I lunged forward to try and stop her fall, but she still landed on her hands and knees and slid down a few steps. Tears collected in her eyes, but the little girl tried to bite them back with a quivering lip.

I tucked the softball bat under my arm and picked her up off the stairs noticing the bright red blood beginning to seep through her pajama pants over her right knee. Taylor immediately wrapped her small body around mine and tucked her face into my shoulder.

"What do we _do_?" Tyler cried as he ran down the stairs toward me.

I could barely breathe with Taylor's arms tightening around my neck, but I was already moving down the stairs with Tyler right by my side, "Get to the- _ack_, the front door."

We reached the foyer and I wasn't surprised to see that Peter hadn't stayed put like I told him to. The kid was probably in the kitchen cheering on the toy violence. The jets had disappeared into the kitchen as well, but as it turns out, the kitchen mayhem wasn't enough for one of them. A white jet with red and blue accents came barreling out of the kitchen overhead.

"It's Starscream!" Tyler cried as he pointed at the jet.

The jet didn't reply and instead opened fire directly at Tyler. I swung around so I could cover Tyler from the hits and took the brunt of the attack on my back so it wouldn't hit Taylor either, but a couple still managed to catch Tyler right on his cheek. The hits weren't super painful, more annoying than anything, like small little stings, but it sent the little boy right over the edge. The little stings had managed to irritate his skin and the stress of the entire situation on hand had this twin in tears too.

The jet cackled loudly before flying back into the kitchen.

Oh, hell no.

I set Taylor down and she began to cry harder. Before she tried to crawl back up my body I forced them both to look at me, "Run into the bathroom in the living room. Lock the door, understand? I need to get Peter."

"Aj-"

"I promise everything is going to be ok, alright? Trust me." I said firmly. They nodded their small heads lightly making their bed head bob messily. Tyler slipped his hand into his sister's before the two of them ran into the living room like I told them to.

I pulled the bat out from under my arm with a glare and stormed into the kitchen. The first thing to grab my attention? The kitchen towel was aflame. It burned in the middle of the kitchen floor like some kind of ridiculous campfire. The second was that there was a new robot in the brawl. It was the red eyed police car from upstairs. How the hell it got down here, I had no earthly clue. Everyone in the room was fighting, Peter was hiding under the dining room table watching the chaos, and I was beyond pissed.

The white jet circled the room, shooting at the other robots from the air, before making a beeline towards me. The toy was shooting at me, but I ignored the pelts against my skin.

"Starscream! Leave the humans be!" Optimus Prime roared from across the room. He was one of the three still trying to get the dinosaur under control.

The jet laughed again and I lifted my bat. On the softball team, back when I played years ago, I was known primarily for two things. The first being, I was fast. Running and stealing bases was my forte. Secondly, I might not have been an over the fence homerun hitter, but my aim was impeccable. When I was up to bat, I didn't miss.

I swung the bat with a form that had been ingrained in my muscle memory and I could feel the bat reverberate as it connected with the jet. The sound of metal crunching metal made the fight pause as everyone stopped to watch the now dented jet go careening backwards into the far wall.

Although the fight may have momentarily paused, I did not. I rushed over to the sink, turned the water on, and used the hose to put out the kitchen towel that was still brightly burning. The water also hit the red eyed police cruiser due to his close proximity and he growled at me in response.

I shut the water off and glared right back at him, "Don't think I won't punt you across this room, buddy!"

Taylor's favorite, Bumblebee, leaped out of freaking nowhere and tackled the police car to the ground as they began to fight. The sound of jets made me turn just in time to the two jets that were still in the air firing at me. One of the two, I couldn't tell which one, had shot off something bigger than the last round of ammunition and this one actually hurt when it hit me under my eye.

"Mother fuc-" I began only to stumble back, trip over something (probably one of these impossible toys), and land right on my back. A cry of pain slipped out, but before I could try and get up the dinosaur robot jumped onto my stomach and began to shoot flames up into the air at the jets that were now soaring away. The area under my eye was burning like a bitch, and the dinosaur toy stomping around on my gut wasn't exactly making me any happier.

"Grimlock save you, human." It roared in triumph. Save was an overexaggeration. I let out a groan and pushed the bot off me making it roar in displeasure. Without a word, I jumped to my feet with the plan of crushing all three of the jets into a fine dust.

"Aj!" Peter called out. My eyes snapped over in his direction just in time to see him frantically waving me over. He used his other hand to hastily push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. I made my way over to him, trying not to step on the toys at my feet. Mostly because I knew stepping on the moving, metal objects would be freaking painful with my bare feet and all. I was forced to stop as the red twin leaped off the island counter in front of me and landed onto the back of the purple jet who screamed and began to roll in the air frantically. The red one clung on tightly, laughing as the jet rolled, and I could only wonder how the barely a foot tall robot even got on the counter in the first place.

I slid across the floor on my knees to talk to Peter, "What? You ok, kid?"

"You need to separate the 'cons from the others!"

"How about I just beat them to death with my bat?" I pointed back to the softball bat that had been abandoned on the floor where I had fallen.

Peter let out an exasperated sigh, "Aj!"

"What?" I questioned innocently. The sound of metal hitting the floor made me glance back in time to see the red twin jump off the ground and race back behind the counter. I turned back to Peter, "How will separating them help? It doesn't stop the T-Rex from trying to burn our house down."

As if on cue a trail of fire shot into the air from behind the counter. I motioned toward the area with an 'I told you so and now we're all screwed' look. Peter shook his head, "If you can separate them, then you can calm them down and talk to them."

The kid had a point. I sucked in a deep breath and tried to settle my mind. This crowd from toy hell needed to be settled down if I ever wanted to get control over this house again. So separate them I would. Never mind the fact that some of them are perfectly fine shooting things at me and breathing fire in my direction. I had to be stuck in the twilight zone or something. This was still too unreal.

"Alright. I'll handle this, you get to the bathroom downstairs and sit with your brother and sister."

"But Aj-"

"Kid, don't start with me." I held up my hand. Peter realized he had lost and heaved a heavy sigh before crawling out from under the table and running out of the kitchen. Now came the more difficult part. I forced my gaze back to the brawl.

Across the room, the white jet I had crushed with my bat was slowly beginning to sit up. He was now in the shape of a robot rather than a flying machine, but he was still dented in some areas and wore a rather pissed off look. The last thing I needed at the moment was the third jet back in the air. Without pausing at the gunfire, I rushed across the room and grabbed the thing off the floor.

"Release me now, you filthy human!"

"No problem." I replied and burst into the laundry room. With quick movements, I opened the washer door, threw him in, and slammed it shut.

The toy immediately moved to the thick glass and began to bang on it, "What is this!? Let me out, I demand it!"

I smirked triumphantly and the demon spawned toy, "How about no?"

One down, three to go.

When I stepped back out into the mess of a kitchen the red eyed bot I was looking for ran over my foot to tackle Bumblebee who was on the other side. It didn't actually hurt so the cry I let out was one from surprise. The monster of a police cruiser had his hands wrapped around the yellow toy's door wings tightly.

"I just fixed that, you asshole!" I barked at him before scooping both toys up. It took a minute or two of trying to untangle the two bots while cursing at the same time, but finally I had a bot in each hand. Almost immediately, the black and white robot began to claw and stab my hand, "_Ow_!"

I set Bumblebee down a little harder than I meant to and stormed back into the laundry room where the jet was shooting the inside of the washer. If that damned thing broke my washer I'd rip him into two. The next part of my plan took a bit of timing, but I swung open the washer door and threw the police car in before the jet could escape. The whole thing worked out because the car robot collided with the jet knocking them both over. I slammed the washer door shut and went out to get the other two toy jets from hell.

"Fighting at the moment is useless."

I could hear Optimus speaking and that actually sounded like the only sound coming from the room. Hesitantly, I stepped into the kitchen to see the autobots had the two jets grounded and surrounded as well. The dinosaur bot had stopped spewing fire and was now walking around the kitchen looking at different things. It noticed me and narrowed its eyes.

It. Things. Those were the terms for inanimate objects right? Well these damn things definitely weren't inanimate no more. He? She? I don't remember the twins mentioning any girl toys.

"What did you autobots do to us?" One of the robots that turned into the light blue jet demanded.

"Us? This is all your slagging fault. If you cons hadn't been attacking-" The yellow twin stepped toward the jets threatingly, but I didn't let him finish his little rant of doom. I marched across the room, picked up the two robots who were complaining profusely, and walked back to the laundry room. The others were following me, I could hear their metal footsteps, but they didn't speak and I didn't pause.

The robots were squirming in hands. I tucked one under my arm briefly, opened the dryer door, and then tossed them both in slamming it behind them. The washer still had enough room for some more metal prisoners, but I wasn't about to risk the other two jumping out when I tried to put these two in. A sigh of relief left my body at knowing the red eyed monsters were contained. I spun around only to jump at the sight of ten pairs of blue eyes staring me down.

The tallest, not counting the towering dinosaur, was Optimus Prime and he only came up to my knees. Yet, being stared at by these small…beings was absolutely unnerving. Maybe it was because of the whole 'shouldn't be alive thing'. Yeah, I'd just chalk it up to that.

"We thank you for your help." Optimus nodded his head in my direction. He had a mask over the lower half of his face that suddenly slid back to reveal his mouth. The bot was still red and blue, though a bit scuffed up in places, with flame decals decorating his limbs. Tyler said he was based off the movie version not the cartoon version which I also didn't understand. Why were there so many different versions of how these guys looked?

Standing by his side was the stone faced, blue eyed, police car. He looked a lot like Bluestreak in some ways, but was a bit taller. The others fell in line behind them with the dino in the back.

The shock, the aches, and the impossibility of these living toys running around in the house hit me all at once as my adrenaline faded to nothing. I collapsed rather ungracefully onto my butt in front of the washer. My back was pressed against the machine with the door to it being right behind my head. I could feel the jet and car banging against the glass and that did not help my precarious situation.

"This isn't happening." I breathed, "This isn't real. This can't be real. There's a gas leak in the house and we're all hallucinating. Yeah, that's it."

I buried my face into my hands. There was the sound of shuffling as the group of mini robots came closer to where I sat. It remained quiet for a couple more beats before one of them groaned, "Great. We slagging broke it."

My head shot up again and they all jumped in surprise at my sudden movement, "You're real. You're alive and you're talking. To _me_."

Before any of them could reply to my rambling I reached forward and picked up the closest one which just so happened to be the police car I had been looking at seconds ago. The bot remained stiff as I brought it closer to my face to look at. Their eyes were actually glowing with life. Real life. There was no off switch hidden on his back. His mouth opened and he spoke in a calculated tone, "Please release me."

I dropped the bot like he had spontaneously combust, but he had no issues landing on his feet gracefully. Optimus made a noise that sounded a lot like someone clearing their throat before taking a step toward me so he was only an arm's length away.

"Perhaps introductions would make bridging this gap of confusion easier?" I opened my mouth, but nothing came out so I just pathetically shrugged. He seemed to take this as approval and continued pointing at the police car first, "This is my second in command Prowl. Beside him is my third in command and also head of special operations, Jazz." I recognized the grinning Jazz. Optimus motioned toward Ratchet, who still looked wary, and Wheeljack, who actually gave me a small wave as the fins on the side of his head glowed blue, next, "Ratchet our Chief Medical Officer and Wheeljack our Chief Engineer."

"I knew those names." I blurted, "Well except the Prowl dude, but I mean I've heard it before I just never thought I really needed to learn it because you guys were…"

"Toys?" Wheeljack chirped.

I nodded pathetically, "Um yeah. I know…I know Bumblebee and I know Bluestreak, but I can't remember the condiment twin's names or the dinosaur."

"Condiment twins?" The yellow one seethed. I had successfully made him angrier apparently by opening my big mouth. It wasn't my fault him and his brother were the same color as ketchup and mustard.

The red one was lazily leaning against his brother who looked ready to throttle me despite being much smaller, "I think I'm more insulted that she doesn't remember our names."

"The dinobot's designation is Grimlock. The twins are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe." Optimus finished. I was going to assume Sunstreaker was the yellow one based on the word 'sun' in his name. Sideswipe smirked at me of all things while Sunstreaker shoved his brother off him in a huff.

My eyes snapped to Ratchet next who pushed past Prowl and stopped in front of me, "Don't move."

I didn't move. Not an inch. However, I was fairly positive that was because of shock and not my expert listening skills. A tingling feeling brushed against my skin making my eyes widen in alarm. The red and white bot let out a huff of frustration, "Scrap. My scans still come out inconclusive on these humans."

"Do they still work on us?" Prowl questioned.

Ratchet turned to Jazz who suddenly jumped, "Whoa, warn a mech!"

"Indeed." He turned back to me, "Now, are you injured?"

Was the little robot doctor assessing me for injuries? I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened it again to answer with a shake of my head, "What? I- _no_- I mean, a little, but- gah, it doesn't matter!"

Ratchet narrowed his blue eyes, "I can see the burn on your face and I'm sure the injuries do not end there, and do not tell me what does and doesn't matter."

I used my foot to push the little robot back an inch or two. He looked appalled at my action before angrily grumbling to himself and moving on to check Jazz's arm. The situation wasn't keeping these guys back in shock like it was me though. They were looking around, assessing the issue at hand, and figuring out the next step.

"Is my comm the only one down?" Bumblebee asked glancing around.

Bluestreak nodded, "No, mine is down too. It has been since we got here. I was going to mention something then but Grimlock started freaking out then the seekers flew in. Where did Barricade and them come from anyways? Are they the only decepticons here?"

"-speak to the decepticons. We need to also find a base of locations for the time being while we wait-" Prowl was having his own conversation with Optimus who listened thoughtfully.

"-the jetpack is working like a charm."

"I wish we could say the same about your processors." Sunstreaker replied to his brother.

Ratchet was focused on Jazz, "-how did this even happen? Your entire fragging arm is falling off! And I- Wheeljack! Don't touch that!"

My eyes glanced at Wheeljack who stumbled back and away from the vacuum sitting in the corner with a sheepish look. It seemed like all the bots were in their own world and I had no idea what was happening.

"Hey, hey hey." I said loudly making all other conversations pause. Ratchet continued his work on Jazz's arm though. "Ok. So…_ok_. I need to fix this. I need you guys, to fix this. Just- Just go away. Like, now. Go back to wherever the hell you came from and let my life revert back to it's normal state of boredom. Please."

Sunstreaker scoffed, "You think we'd still be here if we could. Fragging organic."

"I will step on you, daffodil." I replied with a neutral face and dead tone. My breaking point had been about five minutes ago. The twin growled at me and only remained where he stood because Sideswipe wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

It didn't last long because Sunstreaker immediately shrugged out of the red, lanky twin's grasp. Sideswipe didn't take insult to it, he didn't even bat an eye, "But seriously, can you send us home, Wheeljack? I had plans."

"I was thinking about that." Wheeljack chirped, "You see, I was trying to remember what was on the left side and I'm fairly positive it was just a storage container of some of my more random chemicals. That doesn't make too much sense though because then why did it explode?"

"Why did it _explode_?" Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes, "It came from _your_ pit of a lab, that's why!"

Wheeljack shook his head, "What did you two see on the field?"

"We were carrying it when the seekers showed up and started dropping bombs." Sideswipe answered in a nonchalant tone, "We managed to hide _your_ bomb-"

"Not a bomb." Wheeljack interrupted.

"-Under this white out cliff thing and take cover." Sideswipe continued, "Before we could retaliate your thing went off with a flash of white."

Wheeljack shook his head, "That doesn't make sense. I don't understand how that explosion occurred at all let alone made us jump into a dimension where the humans are larger than us by a significant amount, but I do know I had _nothing_ to do with it."

"This time." Ratchet grumbled.

"But jumping dimensions." I could tell Wheeljack was beginning to get more and more excited even with the facemask he was wearing, "Can you imagine the prospects of this finding? What could come from this? If only Perceptor was here and maybe-"

The entire time I sat on the floor listening to the robots in front of me speak, the robot behind my head had been yelling and cursing the entire time. I had managed to ignore it for the most part, but it suddenly reached a point I couldn't stand anymore.

I turned around on my knees so I was eye to eye with the jet, "We are having a mature conversation about getting the whole lot of you back home. Now shut up!"

"How dare you command me, human? I am Starscream, second in-"

"If you don't stop talking I will turn this washer on."

"Is that a threat!? You think I am scared of this human contraption?!"

Starscream just wouldn't shut up. So, I lifted my arm to reach the top panel where all the buttons were. It was easy to find and start the rinse cycle. The clicking sound of the washer door being locked made the jet stop his yapping. Suddenly, water began to fill the washer from all sides. Both toys began to protest and bang against the glass door in anger. The washer slowly began to move and they both cried for me to stop.

I pressed the cancel button and watched as all the water drained out. With an air of smugness, I raised an eyebrow at them, "You were saying?"

"Continue your meeting with the autobots. I will allow it." Starscream replied.

I rolled my eyes and sat back down with a groan. Jazz grinned at me and opened his mouth to speak when Ratchet made something click in his arm and he let out a surprised cry of pain. He wasn't the only one amused by your threat, Sideswipe was smirking but his attention was on his stoic looking brother.

"Me, Grimlock, go home now?"

That growling statement filled me with panic. I highly doubted anyone in this room had an answer that the dinobot was going to like and the absolute last thing I wanted was the laundry room being set on fire. Luckily, the dinobot was distracted a few seconds later. Unluckily, he was distracted by three kids racing toward the laundry room.

My back straightened and my eyes widened, "I told you guys to stay in the bathroom. It's dangerous."

Tyler shook his head at me before letting his eyes roam across the room again, "Peter said you were helping the autobots fight the seekers and Barricade!"

"It could still be dangerous I haven't-"

"You have the seekers and Barricade trapped though, Aj." Taylor argued, "Plus, the autobots can protect us."

At that statement, Jazz turned his head to the little girl and gave her a thumbs up sign with the arm not in a sling. Her little face broke out in a huge grin and that made Jazz chuckle to himself. Ratchet forced him to turn around again and then ripped off the green ribbon sling without much ease. Jazz, apparently, was used to this rough handling and just smiled as he moved his arm around. The doctor toy held up the ribbon with disgust, "Who wrapped this…thing around him?"

"Oh, Aj did that! She fixed him." Tyler answered.

I could tell that both twins weren't as shaken anymore, and I wondered if their older brother had anything to do with that. Either way, the two of them were now on the same level of excitement as Peter was earlier. Unsurprisingly, they didn't question the fact that their once toys were now real robots walking around and talking. I guess I was the only one stuck on that little tidbit.

Ratchet let out a huff and dropped the ribbon, "Adequate at best. Nowhere near well enough to consider an actual fixed job."

"I don' care wha' the docbot says", Jazz spoke up in my direction, ignoring the heated look Ratchet shot in his direction, and smirked, "It held up tight in battle. You can play doctor for meh anytime, girl."

Ratchet shook his head and moved toward the twins to check for injuries. Optimus grabbed my attention again, "May we know your designations?"

I realized that after their little introductions, I never actually told them my own name. My mouth fell open to give him an answer when the twins beat me to it by shouting out their…designations.

"Starlight!"

"Lightspeed!"

I inhaled a sharp breath as all the bots just stared at the twins in confusion. More likely than not it was because they were expecting names that didn't sound like somebody they might've known. Peter took control of the name situation, "My real designation is Peter. These are my siblings Taylor and Tyler, they're twins. That's our Aunt. Her designation is Aj."

"Earlier, you were aware of our designations without our saying. May I inquire as to why?" Prowl asked Peter in that same calm voice he spoke in before. Maybe that was the only voice he could talk in. I glanced at Peter who sat down with the twins and began to get into the 'fan of your lives which also happen to be movies and cartoons' story. All the bots were zoned in on Peter as he spoke. Me, on the other hand, decided to get my shit together. I took in one last deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. I had my panic attack already, I freaked the fuck out, but now it was time for me to knuckle down and get my hands on this situation. First things first. Injuries.

I stood up making everyone glance at me, but I ignored it and left the room. Nobody tried to stop me, which saved me time considering I didn't have to explain myself. I headed toward the stairs so I could grab a first aid kit. Did Aubrey have one? I'm almost positive she did somewhere around here, but like hell I knew where that was. I certainly wasn't about to call her and ask.

_'__Hey Aubrey, your kid's toys came to life and attacked us. Where's your first aid kit?'_

Yeah, no thanks. Polite pass.

Besides, I had my own little kit upstairs under my bed. I brought it with me from New York because I knew that with the way I lived my life, I couldn't go anywhere without that thing. It took me only a couple seconds too bound up the stairs. When I got to the top I turned to head to my room, but I suddenly came to a stop as one thought hit me.

There were only four red eyed toys downstairs meaning that two were missing in action. I cautiously began to head toward Peter's room where the door was already flung open. There was a small bit of fear that a toy was going to jump out and attack, but I pushed past it and peeked into the room. There wasn't any movement. Part of the glass case to the side was shattered and broken leaving glass on the floor where the four had been. My eyes landed on the big, bad guy. Gray body, creepy red eyes, and mean frown. What the hell was his name? Meg-something wasn't it? Under him on a lower shelf was another toy with no face, just a screen. No way was I gonna remember that one's name.

Both of them were unmoving and lifeless. I nodded before peeling out of the room and taking a step toward my own before stopping again. The seekers hadn't come to life immediately. If they had, Peter wouldn't have been able to calmly leave his room and sneak up on me. What if those two jokers in there decided to jump to life?

I spun back around at a startling speed and burst back into the room as if the two were going to come to life at any second. Scary as hell Meg still had a broken leg so when I picked him up it fell off. I rolled my eyes and shoved the leg into my pajama pants pocket and grabbed both robots before booking it out of Peter's room and making my way to my own.

I need something to put the robots in. I wasn't about to just keep them on my desk so they could come to life in the dead of night and kill me. There wasn't anything I could use that I brought from New York which meant I had to do some digging. I threw the toys ono the bed and moved toward the stack of boxes. Digging through them was messy. Memories and junk went tumbling to the floor as I ripped through the boxes like there was no tomorrow. Finally, I came across a large, clear box with a lid that held a bunch of office junk from my parent's office. I dumped it all out onto the floor and then moved back to my bed. It was a tight fit, but I managed to stick both toys in. I tried to stick the leg in there too, but it wouldn't fit so I just shoved it back into my pocket with a sigh.

The lid went on and just for good measure I also stacked my old yearbooks on top of the box then set it on my desk. Now to get back to what I was originally trying to do. Injuries. I grabbed the small first aid kit under my bed and rushed back down to the laundry room. As I went through the kitchen I tried not to look at anything except what was ahead. Cleaning the kitchen was phase three and I wasn't there yet.

I stepped into the laundry room where it looked like the kids had finished telling the robots what was going on here. My eyes narrowed at the sound of Prowl lying on the ground motionless with dark eyes. What was happening? Were they turning back into toys?

"We told them about the cartoons and Prowl crashed." Tyler shrugged as if it was the most normal thing in all of the universe. Ratchet was standing over him with Jazz beside him.

"Sunny", Sideswipe elbowed his brother, "We're stars here."

"Don't call me that, slagger." Sunstreaker growled and rubbed the spot where his brother had made contact with him.

I shook my head and put on my blinders. My focus was on the kids right now. The kids were phase one, robots were phase two. My eyes darted to Peter, "You alright?"

"I'm fine." He replied with a nod.

I opened the kit and sat down between Tyler and Taylor turning to Taylor first. The blood stain over her knee wasn't too large so I figured the scrape wasn't too bad. I rolled up her pants leg to see the wound. It was already beginning to scab over and like I guessed it wasn't too bad. Luckily, she was too absorbed in watching the robots speak to each other to even notice what I was really doing.

"You have to clean her wound to remove any and all foreign and harmful bacteria."

"Shit." I jumped and glanced over to see Ratchet standing by my side and by Taylor's feet.

Taylor beamed, "Aj is just like you, Ratchet. She mainly helps humans though, but she fixed Bee's door wing just like she did Jazz's arm."

"Patch jobs at the most." Ratchet grumbled.

I ignored the grumpy robot. Phase one. Focus on phase one. I began to clean Taylor's wound with a small pad of alcohol. She let out a small cry of pain bringing all attention to her. I tried to give her a small comforting smile, "I'm sorry sweetie. I just gotta clean it up."

I stuck a small band aid over it and began to turn to Tyler when Taylor spoke up, "But wait you didn't…"

Her sentence trailed off and her voice got quiet. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she avoided my gaze and just stared at her knee. An old memory hit me of Aubrey. Of her putting band aids over my small bloody knuckles and…

I leaned forward making Taylor look back up at me and quickly placed a small kiss over the band aid on her knee. When I made eye contact with her again I took pride in the smile drawn on her features. Tyler was next on my injury list, the broken skin under his eye wasn't too bad. I began to clean it with a new alcohol pad. Ratchet was still standing by me watching me work on Tyler as the other robots held a small little meeting by the doorframe.

I finished cleaning his cut. Neosporin. Band aid. Small kiss. The kid was good to go.

"They're from the G1 universe." Peter said to me, "That's why they know English and recognize us as humans. Even the ones that look like they're from the movies or transformers prime."

My shoulders slumped as I let my fingers gently brush the burn under my own eye, "G1, G2, G93. I don't care. They need to go back."

"But Aj!" All three kids yelled at once making me jump.

I narrowed my eyes at them, "I've heard '_but A_j' a little too much today."

"We apologize on any trouble or grief we have laid onto your shoulders, Aj." Optimus said making me glance back at him, "We will do the utmost in our power to return home as soon as possible. Wheeljack, what is your estimate?"

The toy in question pulled his attention away from a power outlet and to the group. His head tilted slightly as his fins lit up, "_Weeeeeell_, first I would need to find out some way to pinpoint where exactly our own universe lies in correlation to the one we are in considering we were somehow blown into another one entirely. Then of course, with the right tools, perhaps I can create a device that can throw us back into our own world. Perhaps using the same type of technology as the space bridge? Then again…" Wheeljack began to ramble to himself using words I didn't recognize.

"How _long_, Jackie?" Jazz clarified.

"Oh!" Wheeljack nodded, "Hmm, maybe a stellar cycle or so. Perhaps even a solar cycle."

The robot twins groaned at the sound of that, but I just shook my head, "I don't know what that means."

Peter gave me a look like he was embarrassed to be related to me. How dare I not know what a solar and stellar cycle are. He sighed, "Stellar cycle is around 7 and a half months, solar cycle is 12 months."

"That's a long time." Taylor hummed.

Tyler pumped his fist in excitement, "You guys can live with us!"

Meanwhile, I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole '7 and a half months to a year' thing. I shook my head in denial before rubbing my face with my hands, "Wait a minute, wait a minute."

"They can't stay with us?" Tyler pouted, "Where else can they go?"

"I don't know, but do you see the outcome of them being here for ten minutes?" I replied, "And you're suggesting they stay here for", I scoffed, "Basically a year!?"

The twins immediately latched onto my arms and began to beg and plead for the toys to stay. As they tugged on my arms, and heart strings, they even teared up a little bit with their big blue eyes. Good Lord, his wasn't fair in the slightest. I opened my mouth to argue, but I couldn't form any words. Geez, I couldn't even say no to these two when they asked for extra dessert and the looks they wore now were ten times worse than that.

"We would be in your debt and would stay as far out of your way as possible." Optimus added.

All eyes were on me and that made saying no even harder. The toy robots did need help afterall, Tyler was right. Where would they go? But how was that my problem to deal with? They had, unfortunately, fallen into my life which made me feel slightly responsible for them. Plus, it felt like if I said no I would be kicking a puppy dog while it was down.

I let out a sigh, "Let me get all this straight first. The toys are from the H1 universe-"

"G1." Peter corrected.

"And we are not toys." Sideswipe interrupted, "We're mechs. _MECHS_."

I held the bridge of my nose with my hand, "Ok, ok, ok. You _MECHS_, are from the G1 universe and you don't really know how you ended up here, only that it had something to do with ketchup and mustard over there and-"

"_Hey_!" Sunstreaker growled.

"But it'll take nightlight over there nearly a year to maybe make something that'll get you guys home?"

Jazz shrugged, "Sounds 'bout right."

"I'm gonna need therapy after all this." I closed my eyes in defeat as the twins cheered in excitement. What had I just gotten myself into?

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry this took so long to update. Work gets super busy around this time of year. The next update will probably come after Christmas, but I'll make sure it's a long one! Thanks to all those who have followed and favorited this story so far!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Energy

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><p><em>"Coffee, because crack is bad for you."<em>

_-Unknown_

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><p>You don't understand persevering annoyance until you've had a foot tall jet turning robot banging against the inside of the washer demanding to be let out in a high pitched voice. It seemed like the moment I finished agreeing that they could stay the decepticons decided to open their mouths.<p>

"Come on, can you let us out already?" One of the jets in the dryer whined while the other just stared at me with unblinking red eyes.

"I demand it!" The high pitched one yelled again.

I turned and set my hand on the dryer door first, "Do you little monsters promise to control yourselves?"

"Wait, you're not going to let them out are you, Aj?" Tyler gasped.

"I can't leave them in there." I shrugged. "Now are you going to liste-"

"You have no power over us, human!"

"Look here." I narrowed my eyes at them while pulling the metal leg out of my pants pocket, "The mega- '_whatever the hell his name is'_ guy does though, right? Because guess who has power over him right now."

The autobots seemed just as surprised at my statement as the decepticons. Bluestreak's voice spoke up first, "Is that Megatron's leg?"

"Yupp. Now-" My statement was interrupted by the red, white, and blue jet throwing up his arms and letting out a celebratory cackle.

"Finally! The strongest has prevailed!" He cheered while the other three decepticons looked bored, "I am Lord Starscream, leader of the decepticons!"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I glanced back at the autobots and kids, "I…That wasn't the reaction I was expecting."

Sideswipe crossed his arms, "All of us expected that reaction from that slagger."

This was taking longer than I wanted it too. I groaned in irritation before turning back to 'Lord Starscream' and all his annoying glory. "Alright, as your first action as leader you can promise me that no decepticon is going to start any fights or tear up our house. This entire house is now a neutral zone."

"And if I don't?" Starscream sneered.

I gave him a big smile, "Then I tear off your wings and bury you in the backyard. M'kay?"

He looked taken aback and gave me a quick nod, "Agreed, human. Now release us!"

The autobots tensed as I opened the dryer door then the washer. All four of them hopped out with ease. I didn't stand around and wait to see what would happen next. Instead, I turned and walked out of the laundry room to head toward the kitchen. Injuries were taken care of and I've handled the bots, mostly, so now it was time to take on the war zone.

One word to describe the kitchen would be scarred. Small bullet holes littered the cabinets along with charcoal black scorch marks. I stood there in thought. How was I even supposed to clean this? Maybe I could rub away some of the black from the flames, but I couldn't exactly wipe away the holes.

"Are you _sure_ it was ok to let them out?" Taylor whispered to me. The kids had caught up behind me and stood close to my back. They were eyeing the decepticons warily and I honestly didn't blame them.

I nodded, "They're gonna be on their best behavior. _Right_?"

My eyes cut to Starscream who walked a few feet from my right side. He gave me a sickly sweet smile and bowed in my direction, "Of course. I give you my word."

The urge to roll my eyes was almost hard to bite back but I managed. The sound of transforming filled the air as the two other flying robots jumped into the air and took off.

"Come on, TC!" The mainly purple one called as he zoomed out of the kitchen with the mainly light blue one right on his tail.

"Be careful!" I yelled in fear that they would knock something over, but the only reply I got was a round of laughter. I closed my eyes as a pressure filled my head. A headache was forming right behind my eyes. It wasn't anything new, I got tension headaches all the time. My pills for it were upstairs with all my junk. Usually the cause of these headaches were stress. I wonder what could possibly be stressing me out right now.

The other robots began to scatter throughout the house to explore. In fact, the only robots who remained in the kitchen were Wheeljack who had opened the cabinets under the sink and was now looking at the piping and Optimus Prime who stood a few feet away.

"Alrighty." I clapped my hands and focused my attention on the kids, "Upstairs, now. Get cleaned up, new clothes, and be careful around the robots."

"They aren't robots." Peter crossed his arms with defiance, "They're sentient beings."

"Kid, you're ten. Do you even know what the word sentient means?" I replied.

Peter narrowed his eyes at me, "Of course I do."

"I don't wanna go upstairs, Aj." Tyler shook his head, "I wanna talk to the autobots."

Taylor bounced where she stood, "Yeah, me too!"

I massaged the bridge of my nose, "Will you just listen to me? I want you upstairs and-"

"Why are you being so bossy and uncool?" Peter questioned.

There was a pause of silence as I let my gaze drift from each kid. They stared at me in return with a look of questioning and confusion. Ok, so I had been a bit bossy this morning, but could you blame me? I needed to be bossy to get things done and to keep them out of the gunfire and literal fire.

I took a knee so I was closer to eye level with them, "I know… I know that I'm being a little more tight strung right now, but… You guys have to understand. New things, things that I don't understand, they make me nervous."

"Nervous?" Taylor asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah." I admitted, "It makes me feel out of control and I worry. I just want to keep you guys safe is all. I promised your mom I would."

Tyler smiled and set a small hand on my shoulder, "Now you have the autobots to help though. You don't have to worry anymore."

I chuckled at the kid's innocence, "I'm sure. Now, how about you guys go get cleaned up like I said before. Then you can come down and make conversation with whoever. Cool?"

They agreed before bounding out of the room and up the stairs. I stayed on one knee in thought. When Aubrey asked me to stay and watch over her kids I highly doubted that she had anything like this in mind.

"Aj." I startled some at the deep voice and glanced over my shoulder to see Optimus Prime staring at me, "May I speak to you?"

"Uh." I opened my mouth and couldn't form words. It was as if my mind suddenly disconnected from my mouth. Eloquent as always, Aj. "Sure thing, just let me…"

It felt really weird talking to him on one knee, but if I stood up to talk it would feel even weirder. He stood there patiently as I internally struggled with how to make this a little less awkward. Finally, I just muttered a quick apology and picked him up off the ground from around the waist. He seemed surprised as I stood up and set him on the island countertop. Now we were just about eye level.

"I didn't mean to manhandle you like that." I said sheepishly, "I do need to talk to you too though…Mr. Prime?"

Optimus nodded, "I don't mind, and Optimus is fine. I just wanted to thank you again for your hospitality. My mechs and I will do everything in our power to make this easier on you and the younglings."

"Right, right." I nodded. I wasn't familiar with the word younglings, but from context clues I figured it was their equivalent of kids. I could've been totally wrong, but I didn't care enough to continue pondering it. "Don't think of this as me taking back my hospitality, but is there anyway we can turn that year into, I don't know, say two months?"

Optimus narrowed his blue eyes in confusion. The amount of emotion I could see on their metal faces was astounding and a little unbelievable.

"Two months!?" I jumped and glanced down at my feet where Wheeljack stood with glowing blue fins.

"I need to put bells around y'all's necks or something." I mumbled before reaching down to pick Wheeljack up. I set him down on the counter beside Optimus. "It's just, my sister is going to be home in two months and I need you guys gone by then."

Wheeljack tilted his head, "Why?"

The last thing a newly recovered Aubrey needed was a bunch of living toys running rampant through her home. I was in perfect health and I could feel it wearing me down already. I opened my mouth to explain that but immediately stopped myself. What if one of the bots let it slip and accidentally told the kids?

"Because she's allergic to alien robots from different universes." I replied. Optimus seemed to understand that I was being sarcastic and didn't want to talk about it. Wheeljack, on the other hand, didn't fully get it for the first few seconds and just seemed utterly lost. "So let's just make that our goal, hmm?"

Optimus nodded, "We understand."

"Well, I guess I should get started then." Wheeljack shrugged. I helped Wheeljack down to the floor and watched him walk out of sight.

"So", I turned back to Optimus, "Should I be worried about the rogue cop car and the jets from hell?"

He nodded in determination, "We will keep Barricade and the seeker trine from causing trouble."

Seeker trine equals jets from hell? I'd add that to the list of things I needed to ask the kids about. I reached back into my pocket for that metal leg and held it up for Optimus to see. "What about Meggy? He hasn't woken up yet and neither has the screen faced one."

The battle mask on his face was still retracted so I saw his lips twitch up in amusement briefly before returning to its more stoic state, "I suppose we will cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Sound like a plan." I agreed.

* * *

><p>The remainder of the weekend was somewhat successful. Meaning, there were only three more fires throughout the entire house thanks to a grumpy Grimlock and I only had to separate two brawls. The first was between Skywarp, the mostly purple seeker, and Sideswipe while the second was a battle of Barricade versus Jazz and Bumblebee. For the most part, I didn't see the bots at each other throats all that much. The autobots had claimed the office as their base of operations late Saturday afternoon while the four decepticons mainly just roamed the house. Saturday night, the first night they were alive, Aubrey didn't call. With the craziness that was yesterday, I hadn't even given it that much thought. At the beginning of today I had finally realized it and considered it kind of a blessing in disguise since it gave me one more day to deal with everything. As the day progressed though and I hadn't heard from her I got more and more worried.<p>

It was 6 PM, Sunday night, and I sat at the dining room table staring at the cordless phone in front of me. Dinner had ended about an hour ago and I had just finished cleaning up and putting away dishes. I could hear the TV playing in the living room, but I couldn't hear what was playing over Taylor and Tyler's loud voices. Both of them had been even more attached to the hip to Bluestreak and Bumblebee than before, but that wasn't exactly surprising. The two bots seemed taken to the kids as well so I didn't interfere. They might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

I wasn't entirely sure where all the other bots were. Peter had been jumping back and forth between helping Prowl with the base setup and Wheeljack with getting them home. Grimlock was currently curled up in a mass of metal on top of my feet under the table like some sort of robotic pet. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the T-rex robot was so chilled out. He was usually wreaking havoc whining about going home. I have burn scars on my hands to prove it.

The sound of someone climbing up into the dining room chair beside me greeted my ears, but I didn't turn to look at who it was. A couple more beats of silence and then a grinning Autobot came into sight. He took a seat right by the phone casually.

"Hi Jazz." I said without much enthusiasm. I was actually beginning to remember all their names and match it to faces. Turns out, all it took me to learn them was for them to magically come to life. Go figure.

Jazz crossed his arms, "Wha'cha doin' in here all alone?"

"I'm waiting for a phone call."

"From?"

"The kids' mom."

"Where are the younglins' carrier?" He questioned. I was assuming carrier meant mother? I really needed to start a list of these terms. I didn't answer his question and Jazz seemed to catch on that I didn't plan to. There was shifting at my feet and a grumpy moan. Jazz stood up, "Was tha' Grimlock?"

I pushed back my chair, momentarily forgetting the phone, and peeked down at the dinosaur. He remained curled up on the floor in his dinosaur mode, but his eyes were a lot dimmer than I was used to. My own eyes widened in surprise as I reached down to scoop him up into my lap.

"Jazz?" The alarm was evident in my voice, "What's wrong with him?"

The bot stood on the edge of the table staring at Grimlock, "Better get 'im to the docbot."

I reached out to grab Jazz and set him on my shoulder so I could hold the dinobot in my arms. Jazz didn't mind me picking him up. On the few other occasions I did, he had no complaints and was all smiles. Wheeljack also didn't mind it as well as Bluestreak and Bumblebee. However, there was also a list of bots that did not like it. Prowl and Ratchet had their own spots on that list. After that first hour they were alive, I hadn't tried to pick up Optimus again mainly out of respect. He was like some sort of autobot general or king, right? You don't manhandle guys in his position whether he was a foot tall or not. Nobody had tried to pick up either condiment twins yet, and I certainly didn't plan to. Especially not Sunstreaker. I automatically put the temperamental daffodil on the '_don't pick up'_ list right next to the decepticons. However, the bot on top of that list was none other than Grimlock himself. The fact that I didn't hear a word of complaint from him as I pulled him to my chest was sign enough that something was seriously wrong.

Jazz took a seat on my shoulder so he wouldn't fall and rested his hand behind my ear for support. It didn't bother me so I kept moving out of the kitchen area. The moment I stepped into the foyer my foot bumped into a bright yellow body.

"Hey, watch it!" Sunstreaker growled after regaining his balance.

I ignored him and looked to his more manageable twin, "Have y'all seen Ratchet?"

"He's upstairs." Sideswipe replied, "What's going on with Grimlock?"

"Out of my way, small fry." I breathed and hopped over Sunstreaker to get to the stairs. Jazz held on a little tighter as rushed up the stairs.

Sideswipe called after me, "What's going on?"

I didn't hear them following us, but didn't pay too much attention to it. Jazz slipped slightly as I turned quickly around the top of the stairs and marched into the office. He didn't complain though and instead just readjusted himself.

The office looked the same for the most part except the office chair had been moved across the room and books were stacked in front of the desk so the bots could stand on the desktop. Most of the books came from the large shelf downstairs in the living room corner. Currently standing on the desktop was Prowl and Optimus. They had been speaking to each other, but when I came storming in they stopped.

"Aj", Optimus stepped toward the edge, "What happened?"

Jazz didn't jump off my shoulders onto the desk which is what I was expecting. He did stand however to speak to Optimus, "Grimlock ain't lookin' too good, OP. Where's the Hatchet?"

I hadn't heard anybody call Ratchet a hatchet yet, but from the nearly two days I had gotten to know him I could see why he would be called that. Apparently Prowl was familiar with the nickname because he answered without a pause, "The med bay."

"Med bay?" I questioned with a furrowed brow. Suddenly, realization hit me and my eyes narrowed, "_Med bay_."

I turned on my heel without waiting for the other two bots and walked out of the room. Optimus and Prowl were following behind us as I walked down the hall to my room or rather the new med bay.

This morning when I had left my room it looked the same as it had the day Aubrey showed it to much just with less boxes and a little more mess. Now, however, half my room had been converted to a med bay. Someone had taken all the boxes in the corner and stacked them in levels coming to a little under my waist. Books sat on the floor like a staircase and make-shift cots made of more books and blankets sat on top of the boxes. All that took up the left corner by the door. My desk had been cleared and it seemed Ratchet had taken that space as his own with another staircase of books to my desk chair.

The CMO was organizing things on my desk working around the plastic box pushed to the back corner where Megatron and the other bot, who I learned was Soundwave, still lay inanimate.

"Good, you're here." He spoke then looked up from what he was doing. His blue eyes widened, "Frag it all. I knew this was going to happen. Put him on the berth over there."

Ratchet jumped onto the desk chair and then jogged down the books to cross the room. I shook my head, "You knew this was going to happen?"

"Set him on the berth." Ratchet ordered motioning toward one of the cots. I bent over and set Grimlock down on one of the bigger ones. Optimus and Prowl walked up the book staircase to join Ratchet as Jazz jumped from my shoulder onto the boxes as well.

Prowl spoke up first, "How is he?"

"He's close to falling into stasis." Ratchet continued to look Grimlock over. I had never seen a robot checkup before so I was a bit on the lost side. For example, I had no idea what the hell a stasis was but it didn't sound good. "He needs energon, and soon."

"Don't we all." Jazz commented.

Ratchet looked up from Grimlock, "What are your current energon levels?"

"37%."

"29%."

"18%."

All the bots answered their medic. Jazz had the highest level while Optimus had the lowest. I let my eyes travel over them all before speaking, "So, what? The bigger the bot the faster you…fall into stasis?"

"It's a…coma like state in human terms." Ratchet grumbled, "We need energon, Optimus."

There was a thoughtful look on Optimus' face as he pondered their current issue. I took a seat with my legs crossed and my arms resting on the boxes. The bots were taller than me like this. I finally spoke up, "Don't judge me, but what the hell is energon?"

"Our lifeblood, our fuel. We need it to survive just as you need food and water." Ratchet answered as he scanned Grimlock one more time.

Optimus continued, "Is there any sort of that in your world? Even as an unrefined ore?"

"Energon? Here?" I scoffed. "Yeah, lemme just run down the road to our local energon mine."

I was shocked when Ratchet suddenly lashed out and whacked one of the knuckles on my left hand with his wrench. It was more startling than it was painful, but I still pulled my hand away with a small cry of pain and matching glare. He pointed the wrench at me, "Watch it, youngling. That mouth will get you in trouble."

"Not the first time I've heard that." I mumbled. I didn't add that it probably wouldn't be the last. Although, I wasn't expecting Ratchet to call me youngling. That's what they called Taylor, Tyler, and Peter. It meant kid, right? I was not a kid, but I didn't press on the topic. I pulled my hands into my lap, "Maybe we can find a replacement."

"If finding a replacement were that easy, the war with the decepticons would be very different." Prowl shot down my plan.

I shrugged, "But that was like your for real bodies."

"Wha'dya mean?" Jazz pressed.

"I just mean, you showed up and you guys _became_ the toy action figures." I tried to explain. It was something I thought about briefly last night while I lay awake in bed. "And the toys weren't actual robo- er, mechs. Sorry."

"She has a point." Ratchet backed me up, "Wheeljack and I have been thinking about the fact that perhaps it wasn't us that came to this world, but rather our minds and sparks. It would explain why some, like Optimus and myself, do not look like we usually do. It also accounts for why we can't access our commlinks, or holoforms, or even connect to the human's source of information."

Prowl grew even more rigid, which I didn't think was possible for the stoic bot, and his blue eyes flickered for a moment. All eyes were on him as he slowly began to relax again. Jazz was grinning to himself, "You good, Prowler?"

Prowl gave a curt nod, "So this…_replacement_?"

"Let's see." I shrugged and got up off the ground and left the room. I didn't wait for them as I waltzed out of the room with the intention of heading to the kitchen first. What could they use instead of energon? It was their food, they were machines, machines took gas…

Aubrey probably didn't have a spare tank of gas in her garage, but I could siphon some from out of the lawn mower or the truck. Just enough to test and see if it worked that is. What other options were there? As my mind wandered, my legs carried me into the kitchen. Optimus, Prowl, Jazz, and Ratchet were all following me, but they were a few feet behind. I stepped into the kitchen to see the fridge door already open.

"Hey." I called out.

The door shut quickly to reveal Taylor with her mess of blonde curls and a pout on her lips, "I'm hungry, Aj."

"Still?"

She nodded her head sending the loose curls bouncing around her shoulders. A bright smile quickly grew on her features, "I want chocolate cake!"

"You guys ate all the cake." I replied, "Besides, sugar is the last thing you need right now, kiddo. How about an apple?"

"Mmm", Taylor thought to herself, "Orange?"

I nodded and walked across the room to stand beside her and open the fridge, "I can do that."

The palm sized tangerines were in a drawer to the right below the yogurt. As I grabbed one and began to peel it the bots walked in. Taylor's eyes brightened, "Hi guys!"

"Well 'ey there, darlin'." Jazz grinned. Prowl and Ratchet nodded at her in greeting, but they were already at the lower cabinets digging through them for anything that would work as an energon substitute.

Optimus replied to her, "Are you well, Taylor?"

"Oh, yeah!" She chirped and took the peeled orange I offered her, "Bee and Blue are showing us how to fight!"

My eyes widened, "Bee and Blue are doing _what_ now?"

"Bye! Thanks, Aj!" Taylor waved nonchalantly and skipped out of the room. Should I be concerned? Probably, but one issue at a time. I'd handle the hand to hand combat lessons on a different day.

I clapped my hands and leaned against the counter, "So, any idea what type of thing I should be looking for?"

"No." Ratchet grumbled, "Let me see inside there."

"The fridge?" I clarified and opened the door so Ratchet could peek in. He began to scan things near the bottom. "I'm gonna grab something from the garage that might work."

Jazz jogged the few feet over to walk by me, "Lemme tag along."

"Sure." I shrugged and kept moving.

"So wha' were we talkin' 'bout earlier?" Jazz spoke up. My eyes narrowed in suspicion. I didn't mind Jazz. He seemed like a pretty relaxed bot, but I was starting to notice something about him I hadn't noticed before. My original thought of him was nonchalant. He was the type of guy, well robot mech, that went with the flow. Relaxed in every definition of the word. Yet, every time he popped up and started asking me questions about Aubrey or me I got suspicious. It reminded of when Boss would act all buddy buddy to get what he needed to know.

So I played dumb, "Earlier? Hmm, cant remember. Maybe the weather?"

Jazz's lips twitched up in the corner, "Maybe. 'Cept, the weather aint all too special up in ya office."

"If you'd like I can pump up the A/C in there. Make it really feel like Christmas."

"Christmas?" Jazz questioned.

We passed the laundry room and I reached for the garage door knob, "Do alien robots celebrate Christmas?"

"I'm gonna have to say nah." I pulled the door open and let Jazz enter first. The garage was cold, but not cold enough to effect either of us. The truck was parked out in the driveway rather than in here. The wall to the left had a shelf with shoes while the other side had bikes, and outdoor toys, and the typical junk one would find in a garage. My eyes immediately focused on the lawnmower up ahead, but not because I needed gas from it.

Lying in front of the lawnmower was the seeker trine that made my life difficult. Starscream and Skywarp were motionless with dim, nearly dark, eyes while Thundercracker's creepy red eyes still had some life in them.

"Well, this explains why y'all haven't bothered me in the past hour." I crossed the garage over to them. "Are you guys ok? Guess that's a dumb question but…"

"We need energon." Thundercracker replied in a broken voice.

My eyes darted to Skywarp who had black smears along his chest. I already knew the answer, but I asked anyways, "What is that?"

"We tried to find a replacement."

I sighed, "And you had the same idea that I had."

So gasoline was off the list of possibilities. I reached forward and scooped up all three of the seekers. Thundercracker stared at me with a curious, untrusting gaze. I gave him a curt, small smile in response. Jazz followed me out of the garage and back into the kitchen with the now still seekers.

Optimus took notice of us first, "The seekers?"

"Same as Grimlock." I commented. When I glanced down I realized Thundercracker was now in the same state as the other two.

Ratchet paused from what he was scanning and motioned out of the room with his head, "Take them to my med bay."

"_Your_ med bay?" I repeated and began to move toward the arch, "You mean _my_ room?"

Ratchet grunted in response and paid me no more attention. He was a bossy bot, that much I had managed to learn. The moment I stepped into the foyer, Tyler and Bluestreak did as well with the mech sitting on the boy's shoulder.

"What happened to them?!" Tyler cried in surprise.

"Did you do that?" Bluestreak asked, "I mean, I understand if you did. Especially if they were causing trouble. Were they? Does Optimus know? We're supposed to protect you four from them and-"

I shook my head and interrupted his rant, "I didn't do this. They're running low on energon is all."

"Are you running low?" Tyler turned his head slightly toward him.

Bluestreak shrugged, "Not too low. I still have 42%. That's not too bad compared to the others. The twins are at like 20% already."

Tyler turned back to me, "How can we help?"

"You can take these three to my room." I replied and he came forward to accept the seekers into his own arms.

"Your room?"

I rolled my eyes, "The med bay. Grimlock is up there right now."

Tyler gave a brief nod before rushing up the stairs with Bluestreak holding on tight. Before I could turn around and head back into the kitchen Taylor walked out of the living room with Bumblebee walking beside her.

"Hey, have you seen Peter?" I asked.

"Pete is with Wheeljack in his room." She replied and walked over, "What's going on?"

The three of us took the few steps necessary to enter the kitchen. Ratchet had managed to pull some stuff out of the fridge in the few seconds I was gone. A six pack of Pepsi lay on the floor along with a few bruised apples. Jazz was actually inside the fridge rooting through one of the lower levels as Optimus and Prowl continued to dig through the lower cabinets.

"We're looking for something the bots could use as energon. They need it." I replied then glanced over at Bumblebee, "How you doing on energon?"

He looked startled that I spoke to him directly, "Oh, I'm ok for now. I'm still at 40%."

"Good."

Taylor giggled, "They can use mama's energon. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

All movement in the kitchen stopped as everyone cut their gaze to the small girl who didn't seem to mind being the current center of attention. Taylor, in all her innocence, just stared back with a offhand smile.

"Tay", I said slowly and knelt down in front of her, "What are you talking about?"

She pointed to the top cabinet to the left of the fridge, "Mama's energon! It's at the top!"

"What is she talking about?" Ratchet repeated the question to me. I gave him a shrug before rising to my feet and moving over to where Taylor was still pointing. The bottom two shelves were lined with medicine and first aid type materials. That would've been nice yesterday. The top shelf, however, had a large red can with a black lid.

Taylor sat down on the ground and let Bumblebee sit in her lap, "She drinks it every morning, but she says we can't have it till we're older."

I let out a small laugh as I pulled down the can of ground up coffee beans. Jazz hopped out of the fridge, "What is it?"

"Coffee." I answered and opened the can to peek in. There was only about a quarter left of it.

Ratchet stepped forward, "Lower it so I can scan it."

I did as he asked, or rather as he demanded, and waited for the results. His face twisted in hesitance as he mulled over his own thoughts.

"Ratchet, will it work?" Optimus asked. He closed the cabinet him and Prowl had been in.

"Perhaps." He sighed, "We need to try it, but the outcome could be dangerous considering we don't know what it will do."

"Skywarp tried gasoline and he's not dead." I offered. Although, he could have been. I wouldn't be able to tell a coma induced bot from a dead bot. "Lemme make a cup."

Taylor was humming a song to herself as she leaned back on her hands. The coffee machine was on the other side of the sink already plugged in and ready to go. I was never a big coffee drinker. The only time I ever really drank it was when I needed to stay awake and was on the verge of totally crashing.

"If this does work, Aj, are we allowed to use it?" Optimus questioned as I began to make a pot. My eyes widened slightly at his question. His manners kind of surprised me, but at the same time I liked the fact that the leader of the bots didn't automatically assume he could use and take whatever he wanted. The manners weren't necessarily required, but still it was appreciated.

I nodded, "Of course you can. Though, I'll need to go out and buy some more. If it even works."

"Can Tyler and I have some?"

I paused in thought, "Hmm, I'll let you guys taste a little. Ok?"

Taylor nodded in excitement. Tyler walked in a few seconds later with Bluestreak and his twin began to tell him all about the energon. Jazz caught Bluestreak up to speed as I started the coffee machine.

"It should take a couple minutes." I explained to the bots surrounding my feet. There was a comfortable air around the group standing in the kitchen, but that was shattered at the sound of faint gunfire and Peter calling my name.

I didn't pause to wait for the autobots to act. I ordered the twins to stay in the kitchen before racing out of the room. I sprinted up the stairs, two at a time, and found myself in Peter's room where a battle had broken out between Barricade and the twins.

Peter sat on his bed with Wheeljack standing in front of him with his own weapon out. He called out to me again, "Aj! Barricade started it!"

"Shocker." I mumbled to myself before physically trying to separate the fighting bots. The twins had these blades out as Barricade was trying to shoot them. There was a hoodie lying on the floor, probably dirty, by the edge of Peter's bed. I grabbed it and threw it over the twins trapping them under the thicker cloth before picking up the police car with my hands.

Barricade seemed to never want to speak with me. Instead, he would just hiss at me in their own language. I figured it was safe to assume that it wasn't anything particularly nice.

"Why is it always you?" I demanded while holding him by his leg so he hung upside down.

Optimus, Prowl, and Jazz burst into the room. They were starting to get good at getting up the stairs quick. I motioned toward the hoodie, "Condiment twins are under the red hoodie."

Prowl and Jazz ran over to pull the hoodie off the struggling autobots. Barricade took advantage of me being distracted and swung at my face with his hands. Something sharp cut the bridge of my nose making me cry out in pain and drop him in surprise. Barricade landed on his back, but before he could get back up Optimus stood over him with a cannon pointed at his face.

"Stay down, Barricade." He threated. Barricade growled in response but didn't move.

"Are you alright?" Wheeljack asked.

Peter's eyes widened as he hopped off the bed, "Aj, you're bleeding."

I touched the bridge of my nose with my hand. When I pulled back there was bright red blood on my fingers. I could even begin to feel the warm liquid drip down my nose onto my cheek. It only burned a little though. Considering I've had my nose broken before by a fight gone wrong, this small cut was nothing.

"I'm fine. You Ok, bud?"

Peter nodded, "Wheeljack and I were taking apart my alarm clock when Barricade came in and started ruining everything. Sides and Sunny ran in and tackled him."

"Don't call me that, squishy." Sunstreaker barked. I glanced over to see the hoodie had been successfully pulled off the two.

I shook my head at him, "Can it, sunshine."

If looks could kill, I'd be dead on the floor from the glare that got me. Though, his burning blue eyes were beginning to dim, but not as fast as Sideswipe's eyes were going. The red bot opened his mouth to speak only to collapse instead. Sunstreaker caught his twin at last minute, but his own strength was beginning to fail him.

I walked over and picked up the twins. Sunstreaker struggled against my hold, "Don't touch me you fragging-"

"Can you just pass out already?" I breathed. Sunstreaker couldn't hold on much longer and his eyes dimmed out as well. I crossed the room again to hand the twins over to Peter who took them, "Take them to the med bay."

Peter's eyes brightened behind his glasses, "Did you see it already? Prowl and I helped Ratchet put it together before dinner!"

There were quite a few downsides I could say about this entire situation, but seeing Peter really come to life wasn't one of them. I had the kid pegged as a debby downer, but hanging out with the autobots had brought out a side of him I hadn't seen before. A small smile graced my lips as I nodded, "Yeah. I saw it. Impressive, I gotta say."

Peter returned the smile before walking out with the twins. I turned my attention back to Optimus who was listening to Barricade speak in their language. Jazz stepped forward when he saw my look of confusion, "He says he doesn't like ya."

"The feeling is mutual." I replied and knelt down, "May I?"

Optimus looked at me in shock and took a step back. I grabbed Barricade with both hands holding his arms down to his side. He still struggled against me, but I kept moving. I went around the back way of the stairs to enter the hallway where the laundry room was. Barricade must have recognized the surroundings because he struggled more.

I threw him into the dryer and slammed the door shut. A smug smile lit my face, "Now what, you little cretin? And guess what, I did laundry this morning which means I can leave you in here for a lot longer than last time."

Barricade was banging on the glass, but I just turned out of the room and left. I walked into the kitchen to see the coffee maker had finished about a minute ago. Bumblebee noticed me first, "You're bleeding! Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, it's all good. Just a scratch. " I replied and grabbed a mug from the cabinet, "You got two new patients though, Ratch."

"Let me guess." He said dryly. "Sideswipe and Sunstreaker."

"Good guess." I poured some of the hot liquid into the mug. "How'd you know?"

Ratchet scoffed, "It's always them."

I grabbed a spoon and sat down on the floor by where Ratchet was standing. Taylor and Tyler were seated on the ground as well and both of them already had an empty mug in their hands as they waited patiently for me.

"It's mega hot right now." I commented. Optimus, Prowl, Jazz, Wheeljack, and Peter came into the kitchen a few minutes later.

Prowl walked over to me, "What did you do with Barricade?"

"I tossed him into the dryer." I shrugged and continued to blow the cup of coffee while stirring it slowly.

Ratchet turned to look at Optimus, "What is your energon level now, Optimus?"

"9%."

I glanced from bot to bot, "So how much should you guys try?"

"Not too much." Ratchet replied quickly. I got a little onto the small spoon in my hand and held it up slightly so he could see. He nodded in approval, "That should do."

Optimus stepped forward, "I will try it first."

"What type of glitch spawned idea is that?" Ratchet snapped. It wasn't the type of tone you'd except a medic to use when talking to his commander. Nobody but me seemed surprised though so I kept my mouth shut.

Prowl nodded, "I agree with Ratchet. If this coffee turns out to be detrimental to our health and puts you in danger, we will be in even more trouble than we are now."

Optimus looked like he was going to argue, but Jazz stepped forward with a shrug, "Relax, mechs. I got this."

"Are you sure, Jazz?" Optimus said with a tight frown.

"Positive, OP." Jazz gave the leader a thumbs up and walked over to me. He grinned at me and motioned toward himself with his hands, "Bring it on."

I brought the spoon toward his face and stopped allowing him to pull it toward him the rest of the way. Jazz didn't mess around. He drank all of the coffee I had in the spoon. All eyes were on him waiting to see what would happen. Panic filled everyone in the room as Jazz stiffened and shook his head.

"Jazz!" Bluestreak cried.

Jazz made a sound akin to coughing and waved off the worry, "I'm fine. I'm fine. Slag, I wasn' expectin' that rush."

Ratchet was scanning him, but Prowl was the first to question him, "What is your energon level?"

"Ya guys aint gonna believe this. Ah jumped from 35% to 65%." Jazz chuckled and shook his head again, "Slag, that feels weird."

I chuckled and stood up, "That's caffeine."

"Everything on the scans look alright." Ratchet commented. I left mug on the ground with the spoon for Ratchet and grabbed the pot. The twins jumped up in excitement and held out their cups.

"Thanks, Aj!" Tyler cheered as I poured a little in his cup then Taylor's. They looked at each other with wide smiles before carefully tasting the hot drink. Their cheerful faces twisted in disgust the moment the liquid touched their tongues and I couldn't help but laugh.

Taylor set the mug on the island counter, "It tastes so bad!"

"Coffee is bitter not sweet." I replied and put the pot back where it had been. As Ratchet scanned the coffee and Jazz one last time I looked around the kitchen for something they could use as a smaller cup. The smallest thing I could find was a couple plastic cups used for liquid kids medicine. "So, Ratchet, problem solved?"

His lips actually twitched up in slight amusement, "For now, I suppose."

For now. I couldn't imagine a better way to describe the solution. As Ratchet moved around the kitchen supplying the bots in here with the amount of coffee they would apparently need I wet a paper towel to wipe away the dry blood from my face. Wounds on the face always bled more than others and that annoyed the crap out of me.

I'd grab a band aid from my own supply upstairs. Knowing Ratchet he'd be commanding me up there any minute with the pot of coffee anyways.

"Aj." Ratchet called out. Did I say minutes? I meant seconds.

"Yeah?"

He handed me the small plastic cups. There were three in total, "Help me bring these upstairs."

"You got it, doctbot." I nodded and grabbed the pot. I glanced over at Tyler and Taylor, "Can you guys put those three mugs into the sink. Be careful just in case it's still hot."

They agreed and I made my way upstairs with Ratchet and Optimus following a few feet behind speaking to each other. By time I reached my room I noticed Peter had decided to follow as well. He passed the two bots and caught up with me walking in right behind me.

"Your nose really doesn't hurt?"

I chuckled and set the coffee pot on my desk, "Not even a little. I got a high pain tolerance."

"That means things don't hurt as much right?"

"Basically." The bots came in next. Ratchet quickly examined the bots not moving. "Hey, Peter, can you hand me that little white box on my bedside?"

He nodded and grabbed it. The curious kid opened the box as he walked it back over to me and when he noticed what the box held he began to dig out a band aid. Ratchet called out, "Bring that here, Peter."

"Wait a minute-" I said, but apparently Peter saw no issue with doing as Ratchet said.

"Good. Now, can you pour the liquid into the small cups? Fill them only three quarters of the way." Ratchet said.

I pushed off the desk and went over to Ratchet, "Hang on now, it's still hot I don't want him to-"

"I can do it, Aj." Peter said and went over to the desk to do as Ratchet had asked. I noticed that. Ratchet asked Peter to do stuff whereas for me it was mostly commands from the red and white robot.

"Sit down here now." Ratchet said in my direction. Proof if there ever was any.

"Why?" I questioned but sat down in the same spot I had been in when I brought Grimlock in. Ratchet walked up to my face and I realized he planned on dressing my wound. I reached up to take away the band aid. "I can do this."

"Quiet." Ratchet slapped the top of my hand. I pulled it back with a frown. The robot dug through the white box and pulled out the Neosporin. "This is the medicine you used yesterday, correct?"

I nodded, "Yeah, but you don't have to do this. I'm perfectly capable of-"

"_Primus_, be quiet." Ratchet groaned and walked up to my face. My eyes were about level with his head so I slouched some so he didn't have to lift his arms to treat the wound. I remained quiet as he applied the medicine and then stuck the band aid on after struggling with the sticky side for a few moments. "There."

"What? No kiss?" I joked.

Ratchet scoffed, "Get up and help me get coffee into these mechs."

A small smile slipped onto my face as I stood. I didn't know what I was even smiling at. Was it the ridiculousness of it all? It had been years since I had anyone tend to any type of wound I had. Even the bigger stuff I handled myself. Yet here I was being taken care of by an 11 inch robot with a grumpy demeanor. Life worked in freaking weird ways.

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry about how long that took to put on here but it's long-ish like I promised! Now, lemme know what you guys think so far! Also, I have a question for y'all. I kind of want to write some parts of this story from the bots' point of view (like Jazz, Sides, Sunny, Ratch, etc.) but what do you think? It would be like third person's view but focused on the bots' sides of things. Lemme know what you think about that too!


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